Canada wins Bronze Medal at Olympics

Canada’s women’s sevens side has achieved their goal with a dominant 33-10 win over Great Britain to win the Bronze Medal at the Olympic Games in Rio. The performance marked a complete turnaround in fortunes from a day earlier, when they had stumbled to a 22-0 defeat against the Brits in their final pool match. A similarly disappointing showing in the loss to Australia in the semi-final was also on their minds heading into the Bronze decider.

Defensive pressure straight from the kickoff set the tone for Canada, and eventually a turnover was conceded with Karen Paquin crossing for the opening try. Ghislaine Landry added the extras and while Great Britain responded through Danielle Waterman out wide, the conversion was no good and Canada remained two points ahead.

Landry took it upon herself to score next, cutting through the line with her own kick making it a two-score game. A yellow card to British captain Emily Scarratt for an intentional knock-on proved a decisive error as first Bianca Farella and then Kelly Russell piled over the line to hand Canada a controlling 26-5 lead.

Jasmine Joyce added a flicker of hope as she raced into the corner after the break to make it 26-10, but Farella’s pressure made the conversion too difficult and with three scores still the gap it looked ominous for Great Britain. The Canadian pressure continued and finally Landry found more space for her second try, once again taking the two points herself. Fittingly it was Landry who kicked the ball out on the final play as her teammates rejoiced behind her.

While Canada may regret their semi-final performance, they ended on a resounding high and can take great pride in overcoming the mental hurdle of the pool disaster against Great Britain. Their Bronze finish matches their 3rd place ranking on the HSBC Sevens Series this season, and sets an historic precedent as Canada take home a medal at the inaugural Olympic 7s.

CANADA
Brittany Benn, Hannah Darling, Bianca Farella, Jen Kish (capt.), Ghislaine Landry, Megan Lukan, Kayla Moleschi, Karen Paquin, Kelly Russell, Ashley Steacy, Natasha Watcham-Roy, Charity Williams

RESULTS
Canada 45 – 0 Japan (Pool C)
Canada 38 – 0 Brazil (Pool C)
Canada 0 – 22 Great Britain (Pool C)
Canada 15 – 5 France (Medal QF)
Australia 17 – 5 Canada (Medal SF)
Canada 33 – 10 Great Britain (Bronze Final)

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