Canada powers past Russia to claim Sevens bronze
Australia seals historic run, sweeps tournament without conceding a point
Canada has earned another medal at the Sydney Sevens, just not the same colour as 2017.
The Canadian women's team beat Russia 40-12 on Sunday at the World Series event to claim the bronze medal — a year after winning the tournament title.
Julia Greenshields led the Canadians with two tries, including one in the match's opening minute to set the tone. Caroline Crossley, Breanne Nicholas, Jen Kish and Kayla Moleschi added a try apiece while Ghislaine Landry had five conversions.
Julia Greenshields somehow finds a way to get there and extends <a href="https://twitter.com/RugbyCanada?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@RugbyCanada</a>'s lead <a href="https://t.co/7z89cjpXZ6">https://t.co/7z89cjpXZ6</a> <a href="https://t.co/a8HJ8hZRVX">pic.twitter.com/a8HJ8hZRVX</a>
—@CBCOlympicsCanada missed out on making it to the gold-medal game after falling 26-0 on Saturday in the semifinals against New Zealand.
Olympic champion Australia beat New Zealand 31-0 for gold.
Australia beat New Zealand for the first time in five meetings since the Olympic final in Rio de Janiero in 2016 in which it beat its trans-Tasman rival to become the first women's gold medallist in rugby sevens.
Sunday's victory meant Australia became the first women's team to win its home tournament in the World Sevens Series, remaining unbeaten through six matches. It also completed the tournament without conceding a point, a feat unmatched by any team in the history of the women's and men's World Series.
The Canadians finished first in Pool C after going 3-0 during the opening day of competition at the 12-nation tournament and finished the tournament 5-1.
Well that's one way to get the job done 😂 <a href="https://t.co/7z89cjpXZ6">https://t.co/7z89cjpXZ6</a> <a href="https://t.co/PM6yqbrmJl">pic.twitter.com/PM6yqbrmJl</a>
—@CBCOlympicsMen's squad finishes 13th
The Canadian men finished pool play winless after losses to Scotland, Australia and the U.S.
They later fell to Samoa 14-7 in the Challenge Trophy quarter-finals but went on to defeat Papua New Guinea 31-14 in the 13th-place semifinal and finished up with a 14-12 win over Scotland in the 13th-place play-off on Saturday.
Harry Jones and Nathan Hirayama scores tries for Canada, which dropped out of Cup contention by losing all three of its pool games earlier in the tournament — including a 52-5 loss to No. 13 Scotland.
Hirayama added two conversions in the win.
Canada, ranked seventh in the world, finished fourth in the last World Series stop in Cape Town in December.
The Sydney tournament is the third stop of the HSBC World Series tour.
With files from The Associated Press