The Langford-based sa国际传媒 men鈥檚 rugby sevens team was hoping to generate momentum ahead of next weekend鈥檚 highly-anticipated sa国际传媒 Sevens at sa国际传媒 Place, for which the upper deck has now been opened after all 28,000 seats in the lower bowl sold out.
But the Big Mo didn鈥檛 materialize for sa国际传媒 this weekend at the Las Vegas Sevens.
An old ice-hockey foe proved equally as potent on the rugby pitch, showing once again that anything can happen in the sevens version of the game. Russia defeated sa国际传媒 19-10 Saturday in the Bowl quarter-finals in Vegas. sa国际传媒 earlier finished pool play with a 17-10 defeat against Wales after a 33-7 loss to world No. 2 and 2016 Rio Olympics medal-threat South Africa. sa国际传媒 opened with a 26-26 draw against the U.S., the team that defeated sa国际传媒 last year for the North American and Caribbean berth in the Olympics.
sa国际传媒 will play Rio-bound England in the Shield semifinals today.
The highlight for sa国际传媒 in Las Vegas was that that feisty veteran Phil Mack of Victoria became the first Canuck player, and the 29th in sevens history, to make 50 World Series tournament appearances.
鈥淚t鈥檚 going to be a special couple of weeks,鈥� he said, before leaving Langford for Las Vegas, and with an eye to sa国际传媒 Place.
Canadian captain John Moonlight concurred. 鈥淚t鈥檚 going to be an unreal feeling playing in front of so many Canadian fans,鈥� said Moonlight, before the team left Victoria last week.
Moonlight noted the strong support the national side has received in sa国际传媒, with the establishment of the Rugby sa国际传媒 Centre of Excellence in Langford, and the unprecedented demand in Vancouver for tickets to the sa国际传媒 Sevens.
While the Langford-based, world No. 2-ranked Canadian women鈥檚 team is favoured for an Olympic medal this summer, the men must still qualify through the last-chance Olympic repechage tournament June 18-19 in Monaco.
鈥淗opefully, I can end it off at the Olympics. That鈥檚 the dream,鈥� Mack said recently. The 30-year-old has announced he will retire at the end of this year.
The Canadian team at Las Vegas consisted of Moonlight; Mack, Mike Fuailefau and Sean White of Victoria; UVic Vikes grads Nathan Hirayama, Lucas Hammond and Sean Duke; Pat Kay of Duncan; Admir Cejvanovic of Burnaby Lake; Justin Douglas of Abbotsford; Harry Jones of Capilano; Conor Trainor of Vancouver; Adam Zaruba of Capilano.
There are numerous categories to the Las Vegas Sevens. The sa国际传媒 teams swept to treble titles by taking the women鈥檚 U-20, U-18 and U-16 championships.
SCRUM NOTES: The Langford-based Canadian men鈥檚 XV finished the Americas Rugby Championship at 3-2 following a torrid nine-try 64-13 victory over Chile on Saturday in Santiago. The 64 points was sa国际传媒鈥檚 third best in its Test history and the nine tries the second most it has scored in a Test.
