You just never know about the vagaries of pool play at major international sporting events, in which tiebreakers can lead to vastly differing fates.
The Langford-based Canadian women鈥檚 and men鈥檚 rugby sevens teams, both finished 2-1 in group play Saturday at the 2013 World Cup. But while the Canuck women advanced to today鈥檚 quarter-finals, in which they will meet the host Russians, the clock struck Midnight in Moscow for the heavily Island-tinged men鈥檚 team.
sa国际传媒 finished strongly in men鈥檚 play, beating Georgia 26-19 and edging the U.S. 15-14 Saturday at 89,000-seat Luzhniki Stadium in the Russian capital, but it wasn鈥檛 enough to advance to the championship round as Friday鈥檚 31-12 opening loss to New Zealand proved too costly.
The World Cup is a key showcase for a sport preparing to make its Summer Olympics debut at Rio 2016.
The Canadian men鈥檚 team includes Nanyak Dala, Ciaran Hearn and Mike Fuailefau from the Castaway Wanderers of Oak Bay, Sean Duke, Phil Mack and Nathan Hirayama of the UVic Vikes and Thyssen De Goede and John Moonlight from the James Bay Athletic Association of Victoria.
鈥淚t was very pleasing [Saturday] and it shows what spirit there is among the players,鈥� said Canadian men鈥檚 head coach Geraint John, in a statement.
鈥淲e were all very disappointed and embarrassed after the way we played against New Zealand. We did not do ourselves justice and we did not make everyone back home proud. But we did today.鈥�
sa国际传媒鈥檚 highly-regarded women鈥檚 team, which is given a good chance to medal at Rio, defeated the Netherlands 17-7 and Tunisia 43-0 before losing 20-5 to New Zealand.
ROAD TO RIO: The national men鈥檚 volleyball team, led by the play of kinetic Victoria performers Fred Winters and Josh Howatson, moved to 6-2 in the World League by completing a two-game sweep of Finland in Tampere on Saturday. 鈥淲e are happy to come here and win both games and six points is huge for us,鈥� said Canadian captain and Claremont Secondary grad Winters, in a statement. sa国际传媒 head coach Glenn Hoag pointed to Oak Bay High grad Howatson鈥檚 contribution: 鈥淗is play can enable us to take more risks鈥� . . . The ripples from Elk Lake continue to be felt across the globe. Christine Roper of Victoria was a winner with the Canadian women鈥檚 eight Saturday at the Holland-Beker Regatta in Amsterdam while Olympian Patricia Obee of Victoria in lightweight single, Josh Morris of Victoria in men鈥檚 double, Michael Braithwaite of Duncan in quad and Spencer Crowley of Lantzville and Olympic-medallist Will Crothers of Victoria in fours all placed second. Rosie DeBoef from Victoria and Antje Von Seydlitz and Alyssa Weninger of UVic were third in women鈥檚 quad . . . Victoria diver Celina Toth came within heartbeat of a career breakthrough podium finish by missing bronze by one point Saturday in placing fourth at the FINA Grand Prix meet in Bolzano, Italy. Toth noted she 鈥渓earned a lot this week鈥� . . . Qualifying times for the 2013 IAAF world track and field championships Aug. 10-18 at Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow will be chased Friday night at the 25th annual Victoria Track Classic at Centennial Stadium.
