Canadian women, men pick up opening-match victories at Sydney 7s

Five different women scored tries as Canada crushed Brazil to open the rugby sevens series stop in Sydney on Friday.

Elissa Alarie, Sara Kaljuvee, Julia Greenshields, Karen Paquin and Kayla Moleschi all scored in the Canadians’ 33-10 rout in the first group-play match.

Brazil, ranked 11th, was close with the third-ranked Canada until the end of the first half, when a pair of late-half tries from Greenshields and Paquin put the game mostly out of reach.

Captain Ghislaine Landry did not appear in the match for Canada.

The Canadians won silver last weekend in Hamilton, falling 24-7 to host New Zealand in the Cup final.

WATCH | Canada crushes Brazil:

Watch Canada take on Brazil at the HSBC World Women’s Rugby Sevens Series from Sydney, Australia.21:36

Their next game comes against Fiji on Friday at 11:30 p.m. ET, before group play wraps up with a showdown against the Americans on Saturday at 5:07 p.m. ET.

Meanwhile, the ninth-ranked men’s team took care of business against No. 11 Ireland with a 28-19 win.

Canadian scorers included Andrew Coe, Nathan Hirayama, David Richard and Harry Jones. The latter two tries came with the Canadian side trailing 19-14 in the second half.

Canada managed fifth place in the Hamilton tournament after winning a pair of group-play matches but failing to reach the medal bracket.

In Sydney, their next match comes at 3:05 a.m. ET against Spain.

Team Canada full pool schedule

Women

  • Friday, Jan. 31: Canada 33, Brazil 10
  • Friday, Jan. 31: Canada vs. Fiji (11:30 p.m. ET)
  • Saturday, Feb. 1: Canada vs. U.S. (5:07 p.m. ET)

Men

  • Friday, Jan. 31: Canada 28, Ireland 19
  • Saturday, Feb. 1: Canada vs. Spain (3:05 a.m. ET)
  • Saturday, Feb. 1: Canada vs. England (8:57 p.m. ET)

News