Canada fall to dominant New Zealand twice in one day

Being thrashed once by the world's best team is hard at the best of times. But at the Hong Kong Sevens on Saturday, a quirk of the draw meant Canada's women suffered two batterings by New Zealand in one day.

The Black Ferns, currently dominating the women's series, beat the North Americans 46-0 in their final Pool C match in the morning, before knocking them out of the quarter-finals 45-14 hours later.

But Canada co-captain Olivia Apps toasted her side's improvement in the second game.

"There's still a lot of work to be done but I'm so proud of the fight that my team had, especially in those final minutes to really get somepoints on the board," she said.

"In the end if we want to be the best in the world we need to play against the best in the world... There's no team I'd rather play against."

New Zealand's win set up a semi-final against Fiji, who beat USA 19-14 with a last-minute try from Reapi Ulunisau, to the delight of the large Fijian crowd in the stands.

Canada's two tries in the second game were the first conceded by New Zealand in this sevens tournament.

"We definitely like to keep the zero on the scoreboard and probably got exposed by a couple of kicks there," said Kelly Brazier, who scored a try in each of New Zealand's games against Canada.

"We'll look at that and go in tomorrow and hopefully win a few more balls in the air."

Relishing the prospect of Sunday's semi-final, she said opponents Fiji were "an exciting team, you never know what they're going to throw at you".

The Black Ferns come into the season's penultimate competition in imperious form, having won the last four tournaments.

This year's tour -- which has one stop after Hong Kong, in Toulouse in May – also serves as Olympic qualifying, with the top four teams automatically heading to the Paris Games in 2024.

Second-placed Australia are still technically within touching distance of New Zealand, but it would take a disastrous run of results for the series leaders to let the title slip.

For their part, the Aussies saw off Ireland 24-5 to make safe their spot in the semis, where they will face Great Britain, who stunned France 5-0 with a galloping last-second try by substitute Rhona Lloyd.

"I just hit a tiny bit of space and went for it. I could hear everybody telling me to go, which is usually an indication that you're on your own," said the 26-year-old Scot, who had been visibly moved while celebrating the try, as her teammates jubilated on the pitch.

"It was just so emotional scoring that try," Lloyd said.

"We've spoken about making a semi-final, we've known we were capable of it for such a long time. But to do it here, on what I consider to be the best place to play sevens in the world, that really means the world. And we're in a medal match, it's incredible."

leg/sco

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