SYDNEY, Australia — Canada’s women’s sevens team can add the Sydney Sevens Cup to their trophy case after beating the United States 21-17 on Saturday in the Cup final.
It’s the third World Rugby Women’s Sevens Series Cup victory for the Canadians, with title wins at the Amsterdam Sevens in 2015 and the Clermont Sevens in 2016.
"It was a 12-person effort. The defence over the last day has been building and it takes 12 people to win that and that’s exactly what we did," said Canadian captain Ghislaine Landry.
The Americans jumped out to a 7-0 lead just three minutes in, but Charity Williams and Britt Benn responded with a try each to make it 14-7 Canada at the half.
With the score 14-12, Bianca Farella added Canada’s third try to put the game out of reach.
Naya Tapper scored three tries for the U.S.
Canada entered Sydney in sixth place in the Series standings through one event this season, but earned 20 points with its first-place finish to jump ahead of Fiji, England and Russia into third.
"We know what we’re capable of," said Landry. "Every tournament we look to (win). Sometimes it doesn’t go as planned but we’re pretty happy with that and it’s not a surprise to us."
New Zealand stays atop the Series standings after claiming the bronze medal in Sydney while Australia remains in second place after finishing fourth.
Canada advanced to the Cup final after defeating Australia 12-7 in the cup semifinals earlier in the day.
The Canadians began the day with a 26-5 win over Russia in the Cup quarter-finals.
It was a little bit of redemption for the Canadians, who were eliminated by Russia in the Cup quarters at the first event of the season in Dubai.
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