The Canadian women’s team waited two years to come out of the chute to play a rugby game at Starlight Stadium.
There was no rust on the hosts to start the HSBC Canada Sevens with a 19-10 victory over Spain and 43-0 blanking of Mexico in Group A. But the green and gold blur that is world No. 1 Australia proved too much in the third game as the undefeated Aussies prevailed 28-5 over the Canadians.
“There were two highs and a low,” said Canada coach Jack Hanratty, tasked with rebuilding a youthful Canuck squad, with only two holdovers from the 2016 Rio Olympics bronze-medallist team.
“Australia was dangerous and clinical, and showed why they are No. 1 in the world.”
But Canada did enough on Saturday, before nearly 3,000 fans, and its 2-1 record was good enough to advance into the quarter-finals.
“The support was super loud and it brought smiles to our faces and built our confidence,” said Canadian player Olivia De Couvreur, who scored the lone try against the Aussies.
Canada’s quarter-final opponent, today at 10:22 a.m., is defending Tokyo Olympic champion New Zealand.
“We’re going to have to cause an upset,” said Hanratty.
“The crowd helped us today, but they also lined up to get the autographs of the New Zealand players, who are household names and celebrities within our sport.”
The Kiwis are taking nothing for granted.
“We know Canada at home will put up a big fight,” said New Zealand star Portia Woodman.
The quarter final pits Woodman, the Olympic gold and silver medallist and World Series career tries leader, against Olympic bronze medallist and career all-time second tries leader Bianca Farella of Canada.
“Bianca has out and out speed and is deceptively strong,” said Woodman, of her great rival.
New Zealand is making its first HSBC World Series appearance of the season after lingering travel restrictions forced the Black Ferns to miss the first four tournaments.
“We are absolutely amped to be back and to hear a noisy crowd and not just silence,” said Woodman.
The match of the opening day was a kinetic 12-12 draw between the Kiwis and the Tokyo bronze medallist Fijians.
“It felt like having our families in Victoria,” Fiji captain Rusila Nagasau said of the flag-waving Fijian supporters, who urged their team on.
“Everyone knows about our [two-time Olympic-champion] men’s team. The Olympic bronze medal in Tokyo was the biggest win for us to get equal play.”
In the other quarter-final match-ups today, Fiji meets Tokyo Olympics silver-medallist France at 10 a.m., Ireland plays the U.S. at 10:44 a.m. and Spain meets Australia at 11:06 a.m.
The medal and consolation rounds continue through to the championship final at 5 p.m.
World No. 8 Canada is coming off the high of winning the Americas’ regional qualifying tournament last weekend 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.
“We are top eight in the world but we want more than that,” said Hanratty.
“Eventually, we want to be competing for medals.”
cdheensaw@timescolonist.com
