Cinderella wore glass cleats.
The Langford-based Canadian men's team, ranked No. 13, stunned the rugby world by reaching the Final Four at the Wellington Sevens in New Zealand.
The upstart Canadians defeated Argentina 17-12 in the quarter-finals Saturday but the run came to an end in a 21-5 loss in the semifinals to 2016 Rio Olympics bronze-medallist South Africa.
sa国际传媒 defeated highly-regarded Scotland 28-19 and Wales 28-5, and blanked Russia 29-0, in going 3-0 in pool play on Friday.
"This team has struggled with belief over the last year [failing to qualify for the Rio Olympic] . . . and that can affect you," said new Canadian coach Damian McGrath, in a statement.
"I truly believe this team has the abilities."
A couple of Castaway Wanderers out of St. Michaels University School, Mike Fuailefau and Luke McCloskey, are playing with the Canadian team in Wellington. Also on the Canadian roster for Wellington, the third stop on the 2016-17 HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series, are UVic Vikes player Isaac Kaay and UVic products Nathan Hirayama, Lucas Hammond and Duncan's Pat Kay.
Veteran captain John Moonlight from James Bay finished off fire-fighting school in Texas and missed two weeks of training in Victoria, so Jones is captaining sa国际传媒 in Wellington this weekend and Hirayama will in Sydney next weekend for the next World Series tournament. Moonlight has joined the team in Wellington.
The unusual cold snap on the Island earlier this month wasn't ideal for training, so the Canadian team went inside to the Oak Bay Rec Centre field house.
"The boys have put in some hard work. We were training in some icy conditions back home but managed to put some time in and work on the basics," said Jones.
The 2016 Rio Olympics bronze-medallist Canadian women's team, also based in Langford, did not play in Wellington because there is no women's tournament there. The Canuck women will join the Canadian men in Sydney next weekend.
Both the 10-event men's and six-event women's 2016-17 World Series seasons will feature Canadian stops. The men's sa国际传媒 Sevens is March 11-12 at sa国际传媒 Place, with the lower bowl already sold out and more than 33,000 fans to be in attendance each day. The female sa国际传媒 Sevens tournament is May 27-28 at Westhills Stadium in Langford.
