Canadian women topple Ireland at Canada Sevens, men close tournament with loss

The women can place fifth in the tournament with a win over Fiji.

Fancy Bermudez scored a pair of tries as the Canadian women defeated Ireland 24-12 Sunday to put themselves in position for their best result this season at the HSBC Canada Sevens tournament.

The women can place fifth in the tournament with a win over Fiji. Their previous best was eighth in Cape Town, South Africa.

“It will give us some good momentum going into the last few stops,” said Bermudez, a back from Edmonton. “It will do a lot.”

The men, who staged an upset over Australia Friday but missed advancing to the quarterfinals due to a points differential, lost 31-14 to South Africa in their only game Sunday and finished in a tie for 15th place.

“It’s a bummer to not come away with points,” said captain Phil Berna.

The poor finish was a blow to a men’s team that came into the tournament sitting 14th in the World Rugby Sevens Series standings and fighting to avoid relegation

The women fell behind 7-0 against Ireland but responded with 24 straight points. The game turned when prop Olivia De Couvreur of Ottawa delivered a crunching hit early in the first half.

“That was a bit monument piece,” said Bermudez. “It really got our energy back up after having a couple unforced errors. We just took that and ran with it.”