South Africa ends Canadian rugby 7s men’s Olympic qualification hopes
South Africa ended the Canadian men’s Olympic dream Sunday with a 28-0 win in the semifinal of the World Rugby Sevens Repechage in Monaco.
Fatigue played a part with the depleted Canadians, having lost Alex Russell and Kalin Sager to injury, having just three men on the bench. Matt Oworu, who sat out the quarterfinal, dressed for the semifinal despite an ankle issue.
The Canadians had needed a dramatic 24-19 win over Chile to reach the final four. Noah Flesch scored the winning try in extra time, after Cooper Coats converted a Thomas Isherwood try with the clock in the red to force overtime.
South Africa faced Britain in the final, with the last Olympic berth on the line at Stade Louis II, with Canada meeting Spain for third place. Britain defeated Spain 17-12 in the other semifinal.
China and Kenya faced off in the women’s final.
Twelve men’s and 12 women’s teams were competing for the last berth in the Olympic field. The fifth-ranked Canadian women have already qualified for Paris.
Selvyn Davids scored two tries and Tristan Leyds and Rosko Specman added singles for South Africa, which led Canada 14-0 at the half.
After Davids gave South Africa an early 7-0 lead, the Blitzboks lost Christie Grobbelaar to a yellow card for a high tackle in the first half but still managed another try with Leyds slicing through the Canadian defence.
The Canadians attacked in the second half but could not breach the Blitzboks defence. And South Africa took advantage when Canada make mistakes.
Still it was a stirring end to a dismal season that saw the Canadian men relegated from the top-tier HSBC SVNS series after a 3-36-0 campaign. Spain delivered the final blow in Canada’s relegation battle with a 22-14 win on June 3 in Madrid.
The Canada men, who placed eighth at the Tokyo Olympics, had been a core team on the top sevens circuit since 2012-13 and lifted the trophy in Singapore in 2017. Now they will have to battle their way back to the top tier.
The Paris Olympic men’s field already includes host France plus New Zealand, Argentina, Fiji and Australia, who booked their tickets by finishing in the top four of the HSBC SVNS series this season. They are joined by six regional qualification tournament winners: Uruguay (South America), Ireland (Europe), U.S. (North America), Kenya (Africa), Samoa (Oceania) and Japan (Asia).
The Americans beat Canada 24-14 in the final of the Rugby Americas North (RAN) Sevens last August in Langford, B.C.