Canadian women beat U.S. to capture Sydney 7s cup

Canada's women's sevens team can add the Sydney Sevens cup to their trophy case after beating the United States 21-17 on Saturday in the cup final.

It's the third World Rugby Women's Sevens Series cup victory for the Canadians, with title wins at the Amsterdam Sevens in 2015 and the Clermont Sevens in 2016.

"It was a 12-person effort. The defence over the last day has been building and it takes 12 people to win that and that's exactly what we did," said Canadian captain Ghislaine Landry.

The Americans jumped out to a 7-0 lead just three minutes in, but Charity Williams and Britt Benn responded with a try each to make it 14-7 Canada at the half.

Canada defeats U.S. to win third-ever women's Sevens Series title

8 years ago

Duration 0:42

Canada catapults to third place in the overall World Rugby Women's Sevens Series standings after defeating the U.S. 21-17 in Sydney

With the score 14-12, Bianca Farella added Canada's third try to put the game out of reach.

Naya Tapper scored three tries for the U.S.

Canada entered Sydney in sixth place in the Series standings through one event this season, but earned 20 points with its first-place finish to jump ahead of Fiji, England and Russia into third.

"We know what we're capable of," said Landry. "Every tournament we look to (win). Sometimes it doesn't go as planned but we're pretty happy with that and it's not a surprise to us."

New Zealand stays atop the Series standings after claiming the bronze medal in Sydney while Australia remains in second place after finishing fourth.

Canada advanced to the cup final after defeating Australia 12-7 in the cup semifinals earlier in the day.

The Canadians began the day with a 26-5 win over Russia in the cup quarter-finals.

It was a little bit of redemption for the Canadians, who were eliminated by Russia in the cup quarters at the first event of the season in Dubai.

Canadian men drop to Challenge Trophy

On the men's side, Canada dropped into the Challenge Trophy at the Sydney Sevens after going 1-1-1 on Saturday.

Canada concluded the day with a draw with Argentina — marked by a Pat Kay last gasp conversion that sailed wide — missing out on the cup quarter-finals based on points difference. The Canadians had opened with a narrow win over Russia before losing to the United States in their second game.

Canada will play its Challenge Trophy quarter-final on Sunday.

Justin Douglas had two tries against Argentina, including the first of the game to give Canada a quick 7-0. Argentina hit back through tries from Nicolas Menendez and Matias Osadczuk to take a 12-7 lead into the break.

Luciano Rizzoni increased Argentina's lead to 17-7 before Douglas's second try. Another from Kay tied the game 17-17 with no time left on the clock.

Earlier, John Moonlight scored three tries in Canada's 31-19 loss to the United States. Caleb Jordan scored his first try of the series for Canada.