Canada Beat U.S.A. to Win HSBC Singapore Sevens

It took Canada 140 appearances on the HSBC World Rugby 7s Series since 1999 to finally enjoy the sweet taste of a Cup final victory.

On a weekend of massive upsets and shock defeats, the Canada Sevens team beat the United States 26-19 to win the HSBC Singapore Rugby Sevens 2017 after a fantastic run that saw them beating 12-time Series champion New Zealand 26-14 in the quarterfinals and Rio Olympics silver-medalist England 17-5 in the semi-finals.

The Singapore Sevens final at the National Stadium saw Canada racing to a 19-0 lead in the first half after tries from Matt Mullins, Harry Jones and Mike Fuailefau with HSBC Player of the Final Nathan Hirayama converting two of three attempts. Before halftime, the Americans burst into life through a try from Stephen Tomasin and a converted try by Perry Baker to close the gap to 12-19.

The second half began with American speedster Baker scoring his 41st try of the season as United States drew level with Canada 19-19. In the closing stages, Lucas Hammond cut through the American defence to clinch the winning try for Canada, which Hirayama converted.

Canada began their Singapore campaign with easy wins over Russia (28-15) and Hong Kong (34-0) in Saturday’s pool matches, but was beaten also 7-35 by defending Series champion Fiji. The defeat to Fiji on Saturday evening sparked off an amazing run from the Canadians on Sunday.

“It’s hard to put that into words,” said Canada Sevens Captain, John Moonlight. “We took a licking against Fiji yesterday, and from our coach. But we showed up today, we showed the world we can beat anyone. We beat three of the best teams today. We are flying. An unbelievable feeling.”

England claimed the bronze with a 14-12 victory over Australia while Wales won the Challenge Trophy Final with 24-12 win over Scotland. New Zealand took fifth spot with a hard-fought 17-12 win against South Africa who remain top of the HSBC World Rugby 7s Series standings.

The HSBC Singapore Sevens took place one week after the three-day Cathay Pacific / HSBC Hong Kong Sevens.

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