The irrepressible spirit of sevens rugby was personified Sunday at Starlight Stadium by the Fijian fan, clad in her country’s colours, but instead waving the Australian flag during the Australia-Spain quarter-final game and chanting: “Aussie, Aussie, Aussie.” To which the crowd responded with the famous Down Under response: “Oi, Oi, Oi.”
The Antipodes stick together, and amid the colourful swirl of the weekend in Langford before 5,243 fans, they dominated the HSBC Canada Sevens tournament with world No. 1 Australia defeating Tokyo Olympic champion New Zealand 21-17 in a pulsating final won on a try by Lily Dick on the last play of the game.
New Zealand defeated France 26-14 in one semifinal in a reprise of the Tokyo Olympic gold-medal final, won 26-12 by the Kiwis. Australia, the 2016 Rio Olympic champion, bested Ireland 26-5 in the other semifinal. Surprising Ireland defeated France 22-14.
The other surprise was the performance of the youthful host side as Canada captured fifth place. Canada followed a 38-0 quarter-final loss to New Zealand with an uplifting 26-19 victory in the consolation round over Tokyo Olympics bronze-medallist Fiji as University of Victoria Vikes rookie Krissy Scurfield scored two tries. Canada then defeated the U.S. 12-7 to cap the weekend.
Scurfield, 18, was a late injury call-up and the youngest Canada player made a huge impact. It made her dad Al’s short-notice trip to the Island from Canmore, Alta., worth the drive.
“I was not even expected to be playing this weekend. There are a lot of emotions and all of them good. It felt amazing,” said Scurfield.
“The first time I met [two-time Olympian] Bianca Farella, I cried,” recalled Scurfield, about how raw and green she is in the Canadian program.
“Now we will all learn and grow together.”
The process seems to have begun.
“It was a very gutsy performance and we showed mental resiliency,” said Farella, one of the few remaining connections to the 2016 Rio Olympics bronze-medallist Canadian team.
“Our goal is Paris 2024,” added the HSBC World Series No. 2 all-time career try scorer.
It was an encouraging measuring stick two years out.
“We showed great determination against the top teams in the world,” said Canada coach Jack Hanratty.
“The sky is the limit for somebody like Krissy [Scurfield] to some day become a rock star in our sport.”
It was the first Canada Sevens at Starlight Stadium since 2019 with the 2020 and 2021 tournaments cancelled due to the pandemic.
Canada moved up a spot to No. 7 in the world rankings. The week previous, Canada won the Americas’ regional qualifying tournament in Nassau, Bahamas, to stamp its ticket to the 2022 World Cup in Cape Town, South Africa. The other big event this summer is the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, England.
cdheensaw@timescolonist.com
