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Canada book place in Vancouver semis with ‘special’ win over rivals USA
To the delight of the roaring Vancouver crowd at BC Place Stadium, Canada has overcome a slow start at their home event to book their place in a blockbuster semi-final on Sunday.
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The Canada women’s sevens side started their campaign with a 12-point loss to France on Day One but bounced back with a 38-nil demolition of Great Britain.
Canada played Spain in their third and final pool game on Day Two, and after winning that contest, were due to come up against fierce rivals the USA in a mammoth quarter-final.
Krissy Scurfield scores the first try for @RugbyCanada helping bring them to the Semi-Final! 🔥#HSBCSVNS | #HSBCSVNSVAN https://t.co/26IQNip6ac pic.twitter.com/c3wRbSZENq
— HSBC SVNS (@SVNSSeries) February 25, 2024
With thousands of fans at the Vancouver venue spurring the Canadians on, tries to Florence Symonds and Krissy Scurfield saw the hosts race out to a 12-nil half-time lead.
Speedster Ariana Ramsey almost stole it from the Canadians with a rapid second-half double but a missed conversion at the death meant the home side snuck by with a two-point victory.
“It’s probably similar to your ANZAC rivalry, right? It’s the battle of the North Americas,” Canada’s Sophie de Goede told RugbyPass.
“For us, for rugby, both the US and Canada are trying to prove that we deserve to belong on the world stage but the place to prove it first is on home court and I think we did that today in Vancouver.
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“It’s pretty special.
“It’s just a testament to who we are as Canadian people,” she added.
“We are humble people… we’re pretty proud when it comes to representing our country and a lot of other nations around the globe don’t get to see that so it’s pretty special when we get to show it in front of everyone.”
De Goede, 24, was a big-name inclusion for Canada ahead of their home event.
Amongst her achievements, de Goede was nominated for World Rugby’s 15s Player of the Year award in 2022. De Geode captained Canada at the last Rugby World Cup and plays club rugby for English side Saracens.
But wanting to contribute to the growth of rugby in Canada “in as many ways as possible,” de Goede has returned to the SVNS Series.
“It’s growing massively. I think we’re moving in a really strong direction with the cooperation between our fifteens and our sevens teams across both men’s and women’s sides,” she said.
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“I think if you ask pretty much anyone on our team, our ultimate goal is to grow the game of rugby in Canada and I think we’re making positive steps in that direction.”
In a blockbuster semi-final clash, Canada will play defending series champions New Zealand just after midday (local time) on Sunday.
SVNS Cape Town finalists France and Australia will meet in the other women’s semi-final.
Comments on RugbyPass
The URC and the Euro Championscup can’t run at the same time, basically dilutes both competitions.
1 Go to comments“While Sotutu should start at No.8 for the All Blacks against England, but it’s only in that arena that he can prove just how good he really is.” And that my friends is where simply hasnt shone despite multiple opportunities. Even in this performance you can see what did him in in the test arena..he almost always still runs at the opposition almost ramrod upright making him easier to stop than it should be.
1 Go to commentsShould have been 0-0 and a message from SR CEO to both teams - “don’t worry about turning up next year”.
3 Go to commentsGreat work Owen Franks. A great of this team, scoring his first try for the Crusaders since 2010.He was beaming, justifiably. A fine win, he and the rest did the job up front.
1 Go to commentsDanny Care. Lang in die tand.
1 Go to commentsBig empty stadium does nothing for atmosphere but munster are playing well with solid performance
1 Go to commentsYes, Fiji can win the World Cup! With that belief plus their christian faith🙏 and hard work it is achievable. Great article. Ian Duncan Fiji resident 1981-84
2 Go to commentsInteresting comments about Touch. England’s hosting the Touch World Cup this year and the numbers have exploded since their last World Cup in 2019, something like 70% more teams and 40 nations taking part. And England Touch have made a big thing about how many universities are in their BUCS University Touch Championship as well as Sport England membership. Can only see this growing even more domestically as more people become aware of it
10 Go to comments“Cortez Ratima is light years ahead of anyone on current form, while TJ Perenara has also skyrocketed into contention following the unfortunate injury to the talented Cam Roigard.” At last some sanity. Hitherto so many pundits have been wittering on about Finlay Christie to the point one wondered if they were observing a FC in a parallel universe where the FC they saw wasnt just the mediocre Shayne Philpott project of Fosters hapless AB reign in the real world. Ratima, Perenara and Fakatava are the ONLY logical 9s for Razor now Roigard is crocked.
3 Go to commentsThis game was just as painful as the Hurricanes game. It was real fork-in-the-eye stuff.
3 Go to commentsNow if they could just fire the Crusaders ground PA guy who likes to play his dance music and just loves the sound of his own voice the entire game, even when play is going on. And I thought their brass band thing of a few years ago was bad.
5 Go to commentsUnfortunately when you lose by far the two form players this season in Roigard and Aumua, you're left replacing two game changing Tanks with a couple of pea-shooters. Which is also about the speed of TJs pass.
4 Go to commentsBit rich coming from the guy with zero loyalty to anyone or any team, including happily taking a players place in a league world cup squad because well, SBW wanted to play in it and thus an already named player got told he was no longer going. And airing stuff like this, which may or may not be true, doesn't exactly say you're a stand up guy either SBW. Just looking to keep his name in lights as usual.
38 Go to commentsTamati Tua. …the Taniwha NPC midfielder. Ollie Sapsford, Hawkes Bay NPC midfielder…doing well
4 Go to commentsFiji deserve to be in the rugby championship, fans love seeing the Fijian national team play, the Fijian Drua is a wonderful idea but the players can still be stolen to play for NZ and AUS…
2 Go to commentsThe first concern for this afternoon are wheather forecast…
1 Go to commentsWhy cant I watch Rugby games please?
1 Go to commentsBeautiful shot from Finau, end of story. Gutted for Shaun Stevenson though.
4 Go to commentsThe Chiefs definitely didn’t win ugly. They had the superior scrum, a dominant lineout, and their defence was excellent once the Waratahs scored their two tries (thanks to some lucky refereeing calls mind you). They put pressure on the Waratahs lineout throughout the game, and the mind boggles as to why the referee did not award a yellow card or a penalty try against the Waratahs for repeated scrum infringements on their own try line before Narawa’s first try. And the Chiefs were slick with their passing and running angles on attack. It was a dominant performance all round, even with many questionable refereeing decisions.
1 Go to commentsWasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
4 Go to comments