Canada's Chloe Daniels, centre, collides with United States' Kayla Canett, left, and Alena Olsen during HSBC Canada Sevens women's rugby action, in Vancouver, on March 3.DARRYL DYCK/The Canadian Press
The Canadian women find their backs against the wall after losing their opening two matches Friday at the HSBC Canada Sevens tournament at BC Place Stadium.
The women lost 17-12 to the United States in the afternoon after dropping a 28-7 decision to Ireland in the morning.
The Canadian men were trounced 35-5 by Ireland in the morning.
Bianca Farella of Montreal, and Alysha Corrigan of Charlottetown, P.E.I., scored tries for Canada against the U.S. Chloe Daniels of Sutton, Ont., added a convert.
“When you play the U.S. it’s a battle,” said Farella. “It was a really tight game. It could have been anyone’s game.”
The women trailed 5-0 at halftime. Canada was strong defensively but managed to cross centre field only once.
Farella scored on a pretty cutback early in the second half to give Canada a 7-5 lead. The Americans countered with two tries in a minute.
Farella is playing in her 44th sevens tournament, tying her with Australia’s Sharni Williams for most on the all-time list.
“It’s a huge milestone for me,” she said. “It’s cool to be so far along in my career and still making milestones.”
Canada (0-2) needs a win Saturday against Brazil (0-2) to keep alive their hopes of advancing to the quarter-finals. Ireland and the U.S. lead Pool C at 2-0.
The top two teams from the three pools advance, along with the two best third-place teams.
The Canadian men came into the tournament sitting 14th in the overall in World Rugby Sevens Series standings and are fighting to avoid relegation.
The men controlled the ball early against Ireland but couldn’t advance up the field. Ireland built a 21-0 halftime lead by scoring three tires in under four minutes.
Kalin Sager scored Canada’s lone try in the second half.
“We had trouble holding onto the possession,” said the prop from Trent Lakes, Ont., who is playing in his first year on the World Rugby Sevens Series. “We didn’t quite get it there.
“They got a couple of good steals on us. Hopefully we start the next one with as much energy as we finished.”
The score was a slight improvement as the men lost 22-0 to Ireland at last weekend’s Los Angeles Sevens.
Keyara Wardley of Vulcan, Alta., scored the only Canadian try in the final minute during the loss to Ireland.
Head coach Jack Hanratty said some early mistakes put his team on its backfoot.
“It’s obviously fine margins but if you don’t take ownership of every possession you’ll be in for a long tournament,” he said.
The early games were played before screaming schoolchildren invited for the opening day of tournament, which ends Sunday. By the afternoon there were fans in costumes ranging from a group of white snow monsters, sailors, plenty of loud flowered shirts and a few bananas.
The tournament has been expanded to include a full slate of 12 women’s teams competing at the same time as the men.
The World Series is reducing the number of men’s core teams for the 2024 season from 16 to 12, to equal the number of women’s teams and align with the Olympic competition structure.
The Canadian men must reach the quarter-finals of the next four tournaments – while managing wins when playing the teams ahead of them – to gain enough points to climb into 11th place or better and avoid playing in a relegation playoff.
The Canadian women have 16 points and are ranked 10th after four stops on their tour.
The top four men’s and women’s teams at the end of the season will qualify automatically for the 2024 Paris Olympics.