Sean White of Victoria was a tenacious and nervy player for sa国际传媒 in sevens and XVs rugby. He demands the same of his players as interim head coach of the Canadian men’s sevens team and said he was looking for a “never-back-down attitude” heading into the France Sevens.
He got just that as the Langford-based squad recorded its biggest victory in several years in the HSBC World Series with a 12-10 result over powerhouse Australia on Saturday in the quarter-finals in Toulouse. Captain and Olympian Phil Berna and Alex Russell, with his 100th career World Series point, scored the Canadian tries with Brock Webster recording a game-saving stop in waning seconds.
sa国际传媒 will meet Argentina in the semifinals this morning.
The Canadians concluded group play 2-1 with a thorough 33-7 dismantling of Kenya, to gain entry to the championship quarter-finals. Thomas Isherwood, David Richard, Max Stewart and Matt Oworu scored the Canadian tries against the Kenyans.
The results assured No. 14 sa国际传媒 a spot in the relegation-qualifier next week in London. The top-11 teams are guaranteed to stay on the World Series, which is shrinking from 16 teams to 12 teams for 2024. The 12th 13th and 14th placing teams this season, along with the Challenger Series champion, will play in a four-team relegation tournament for the 12th and final spot in next year’s HSBC World Series. sa国际传媒, rebuilding after the mass retirement of veterans following the quarter-final appearance in the Tokyo Olympics, does not want to slip to the lower divisions.
The Canadian roster in Toulose includes the Island trio of Anton Ngongo out of Claremont Secondary and Lachlan Kratz and Jack Carson out of Oak Bay
Meanwhile, the No. 8-ranked Canadian women’s team, also based in Langford, lost 28-7 to defending Tokyo Olympic champion New Zealand to finish pool play 1-2. The Canadian squad rebounded with a 26-17 victory over Brazil in the consolation round Saturday and will mop up on the consolation side today.
Sophie De Goede of Victoria made her World Series sevens debut in Toulouse after captaining sa国际传媒 to the semifinals of the 2022 World Cup in XVs last fall in New Zealand and being nominee as World Rugby women’s player of the year. But she starred in sevens at Oak Bay Secondary and is more than familiar with that code. Sabrina Poulin, meanwhile, continued her standout play for sa国际传媒 in Toulouse.
The top four men’s and women’s teams in the HSBC World Series this season will qualify for the 2024 Paris Olympic Games. For the first time the Canadian women have failed to qualify through that route to the Games.
The next window is when the Canadian men’s and women’s teams host the North American and Caribbean qualifying tournaments on Aug. 19-20 at Starlight Stadium in Langford, for the 2024 Paris Olympics.
