Canada claims bronze in France, finishes third in women’s rugby sevens standings

BIARRITZ, France — Canada finished third overall in the Rugby Sevens World Series women’s standings after a bronze-medal finish at the tour’s final stop of the season.

Canada posted a 12-5 quarterfinal win over host France in Biarritz on Sunday before falling 21-12 to New Zealand in the semifinals.

The Canadians rebounded with a 19-14 win over Spain — their second win over the Spaniards at the tournament — to finish the season with another trip to the podium.

Bianca Farella, Brittany Benn and Charity Williams had tries for Canada in the bronze-medal game, with Breanne Nicholas kicking two conversions.

Canada came into Sunday’s playoffs with one of the season’s objective already ticked off, having qualified for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics with a pair of wins in Saturday’s preliminary games. Canada’s women’s team claimed the bronze medal when rugby sevens made its Olympic debut at the 2016 Rio Games.

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The United States won gold in Biarritz with a 26-10 win over New Zealand.

New Zealand still finished first in the overall standings with 110 points, followed by the U.S. with 100.

Canada finished third with 94 points, eight ahead of fourth-place Australia. The top four teams in the World Series standings qualified for the Tokyo Games.

Canada earned a medal in four of the series’ six stops this season, including gold in Kitakyushu, Japan, in April.

The Canadians outlasted France in their quarterfinal Sunday behind tries from Caroline Crossley and Farella and a conversion from Ghislaine Landry on Farella’s try.

New Zealand scored two quick tries in their semifinal and Canada couldn’t close the gap. Tyla Nathan-Wong led New Zealand with a try and three conversions.

Karen Paquin and Williams had tries for Canada, with Landry converting Paquin’s try.

The Canadian Press