Team Canada's Chloe Daniels tackles Team Mexico's Maria Fernanda Tovar during women's rugby action at the Rugby Sevens Paris 2024 Olympic qualification event at Starlight Stadium in Langford, B.C., on Saturday, August 19, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chad Hipolito
LANGFORD, B.C. – The Canadian men and women sevens rugby squads got through their competitions unscathed and with varying degrees of difficulty Saturday in a crucial North American Caribbean Olympic qualifying tourney in Langford, B.C., just outside of Victoria.
Canada’s women’s team secured a berth in Sunday’s semifinal by crushing Mexico 80-0, punctuating one-sided wins over St. Lucia and Jamaica and outscoring its opponents 192-0 on the afternoon.
The men won each of their games but will need a victory over St. Lucia on Sunday to advance to the semifinals.
The men opened the day with a 38-0 drubbing of Barbados in front of a lively crowd of 3,352 at Starlight Stadium, but that cheering fell silent when an upstart Mexican team kept pace with the hosts, forcing Canada to find a last-minute try to secure a 21-12 victory.
St. Vincent & The Grenadines pulled out of the tournament, forcing some schedule shifts that reshaped the women’s afternoon into a round-robin, with Jamaica, St. Lucia and Mexico joining Canada.
The Canadian women won’t have to contend with the powerful U.S. team that is already Paris-bound, after its top-four finish in this season’s HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series.
Canada’s No. 14-ranked men, however, will have to get past the 10th-ranked U.S., which came closer to booking a ticket in Sunday’s semifinals with lopsided (62-0 and 40-0) victories over Bermuda and Mexico, respectively.
The last teams standing Sunday qualify for next summer’s Paris Games.
Second- and third-place finishers qualify for one-last invitation to Paris, in an Olympic repechage tournament to be held next year.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 19, 2023.
