Sunday, May 12, 2019 ~ LANGFORD [running updates through the day]
~ West Shore Voice News
The gates open at 8:45 am at Westhills Stadium for Day 2 of this weekend’s HSBC World Rugby Women’s Sevens Series tournament. Canada is up against USA at 9:40 am PDT.
First match of the day, New Zealand up against Spain. Score: 17-7 New Zealand wins over Spain.
In the match between USA and Canada at 9:40 am the first try and conversion came by the USA team at 9:48 am after a long struggle down the field. Second half sees the Canadian home team rising to their feet. And then especially as Charity Williams #6 gets a try at 9:56 am with team captain Ghislaine Landry #9 doing the conversion. Score 7:7 so far. Quickly a try for USA and final score 12:7 USA-Canada.
Williams told West Shore Voice News that she saw the opportunity to get the ball and run. How did the training prepare her for that? “I just told myself to run!” A good confident conversion by Landry sealed that event for Canada, but USA won the game.
Ahead of the Canada-USA match, Langford Mayor Stew Young said: “It will be a great game as its Canada’s biggest rival. Canada playing the US in any sport brings out a lot of loud fans and I know this will give them the home team advantage and hopefully propel them to victory.” The crowd did cheer, but the USA powerhouse team pulled off their goal to win.
The next match showed a win for France over England 26:12. This means that Canada can’t qualify today, says Rugby Canada. But Canada can still qualify for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics if they do well in the sixth tournament in Biarritz, France June 15 & 16.
Russia up against Australia. An active match. Final score 31-12 with Australia the winner.
The weather is cooler than yesterday which is probably more comfortable for the active players but for spectators it means a jacket and warming up with hot food or coffee.
Ireland matched up against China. A final score of 19-12 for China. That was followed by Fiji challenging Brazil, with a final win for Fiji 31-14. Fiji now advances to the final against China.
First game after lunch, Canada up against Spain. Three tries by Canada including one by Landry with a crowd-rousing run down the full field. At half-time the score was 19-0 favouring Canada, A video review of the next try by Canada declared it ‘no try’. But then Charity Williams did a ‘coast to coast’ try and the crowd super-loved it! Final score 31-0.
“We go right away into recovery,” said Williams. That happens at the Al Charron National Rugby Training Centre right across the road from the back of the stadium. That includes keep muscles loose by cycling the stationary bicycles and drinking cherry juice. Afterall, there’s one more game coming up for Canada at 3:30 pm in the 5th place final against England who won their 5th-Place semifinal over Russia 29-17.
Seeing Canada up against England in the 5th Place play off was an exciting event for everyone at the stadium. A winning score of 31-7 for Canada included two full coast-to-coast runs by Charity Williams — that makes four for her today. “She’s just a speedster,” said Canada Women’s Sevens coach John Tait. “I’m proud of the last two games,” said Team Captain Ghislaine Landry. “We put a strong attack together.” The team captain supportively about Williams: “We give her a green light to have a go.” Williams had a swarm of fans asking for autographs after the media scrum.
The Cup Final is a match between south seas neighbours Australia and New Zealand. Two strong teams. Final score 21-17 showing New Zealand as the winner.
Visit http://www.canadasevens.com for schedule and game stats.