A fantastic weekend of rugby in Las Vegas has come to an end. Three days of back-to-back tournament style rugby was very entertaining! With a huge crowd it shows that rugby is a fast growing sport! On the Canadian side there was a huge fan base in Vegas. Many Canadians made the trip to enjoy the three days of action packed rugby and it was certainly worthwhile!
If you didn’t watch here’s a quick brief of what happened. After the first day Canada was one and one with an amazing game against Kenya and a hard fought game against the series and tournament champions South Africa. In order to make it to the cup quarterfinals Canada needed a win against a tough Wales side. The Canadians pulled through with a very close win (21 – 19) that clinched a cup quarterfinal spot against a very tough France side.
In the Quarters, the French took an early lead, but the Canadians would not be deterred. Despite being down to in the first half Canada was able to fight back and win the game! That meant that the Canadians where going to the cup semi finals for the second time in Canadian rugby history!
Although this was fantastic Canada later found out that they would be facing New Zealand! On the final day of the Las Vegas tournament Canada’s first match was against New Zealand. After a few minutes Phil Mack was able to find a gap in the very strong New Zealand defence and put Canada up 7 – 0. New Zealand didn’t take too long to strike back and went into the second half up by 7. After that, New Zealand dominated the game and the game ended in New Zealand’s favour. Although they did not win it was a well-fought game by both sides.
Canada’s final game was against Samoa. Once again being down going into the second half the Canadian men where once again able to come up and win the game with a clutch kick by Phil Mack!
This was amazing. Coming third in an international tournament finishing behind New Zealand and South Africa, the two best rugby nations in the world is unbelievable. Beating Samoa in the third/fourth place match is just incredible! All Canadian rugby fans should be very proud of every single one of those twelve players.
This is a great way too turn around the season for Canada. The first few tournaments did not go in the right direction for Canada. If the Canadians can keep up playing how they did throughout the tournament Canadian rugby would be going in the right direction.
Canada’s start to the tournament was unbelievable. Their first match against Kenya they just came on to the field with fire in their eyes. They where able to find holes in the oppositions defense, and their even their defence was great. Canada finished the tournament with the best tackle completion rate. Canada made almost all of their tackles and where able to contain the offense. It was just amazing to watch them play and to see them compete against these top rugby sides!
I think the reason why Canada played so well, was because the fire and the motivation that they had in this tournament has not been seen by the Canadians in any other tournaments. This motivation and fire came from playing in Las Vegas. Las Vegas is like a home tournament for Canada. With all the support they get from Canadian fans is just amazing. The Canadians really wanted to impress everyone and show everyone that they have potential to be a core team and a top sevens side.
Hopefully Canada can keep this momentum going into Wellington and another fantastic tournament! Remember you can watch every tournament live on www.irbsevens.com!
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