Host Canadians start 7s rugby event in Langford with pair of wins

LANGFORD, B.C. — The weather co-operated for Canada’s critical matchup against World No. 1-ranked Australia on Saturday evening. The competition was a little more stingy.

Having played a near-perfect first half, Canada surrendered a try in the dying seconds of their HSBC Canada Sevens rugby tournament matchup, falling behind 7-src at the break and eventually succumbing 28-5 to the top-rated team in the world.

Charlotte Caslick took the steam out of the crowd of 2,485 at Starlight Stadium with the late try and took the air out of what was a gutsy performance, to that point, by Canada. The Wallabies opened it up in the second half and ran away with the victory to finish pool play a perfect 3-src.

“Honestly, we had a game plan and for the first half we played six minutes and 59 seconds of it,” said Canada coach Jack Hanratty. “We tried to play on our terms and I think for the first half, we did.

“Sevens is all about possession and we started the second half by not being able to secure the kickoff and it became quicksand, a domino effect. But honestly, the grit and determination … we played against this exact same Australian side in Dubai at the start of our season. We didn’t touch the ball and we lost by 5src points.

“That was a game today. They know that and we know that, but we were second best.