Canadian women’s rugby 7s team to face New Zealand for Olympic gold after stunning Australia

July 30, 2024 Canuck

Piper Logan doesn’t know what colour medal will be hanging around her neck, but simply knowing she’ll soon be an Olympic medallist caused her voice to catch in her throat Tuesday.

“Very emotional,” she said after helping Canada’s women’s rugby sevens squad upset second-ranked Australia 21-12 in the semifinals.

“I think people thought that we were the underdogs going into that match and I think we always had that belief that we could come out on top. So as much as we’re excited about it, we’re not surprised. And we’re ready to go to the gold medal match.”

The fifth-ranked Canadians will now face top-ranked New Zealand in the gold-medal match Tuesday at 1:45 p.m. ET, while Australia battles the United States for bronze at 1 p.m. ET. Watch both matches live on CBCSports.ca, the CBC Olympics app and CBC Gem.

Australia finished pool play atop their group after winning all three games. Canada finished second after beating Fiji and China, and taking a humbling 33-7 loss to New Zealand.

The Canadians know Tuesday’s rematch with the Kiwis will be tough, Logan said.

“We were pretty disappointed in how our game turned out with them in the pool play but I think we know exactly what we need to fix,” she said. “And we just stick to our process and trust each other and hope for the best.”

WATCH l Full replay of Canada’s semifinal win over Australia:

Women’s rugby sevens semifinals: Canada vs. Australia

1 hour ago

Duration 26:10

Watch Canada and Australia attempt to qualify for the Olympic women’s rugby sevens gold medal match at Paris 2024.

Australia dominated the first half of Tuesday’s semifinal, starting with Maddison Levi running in a try just 59 seconds into the game. Sariah Paki added another 3:21 in and the Aussies took a 12-0 lead. Tia Hind went one for two on conversions.

Charity Williams cut into the deficit in first-half continuation time, picking up a loose ball and sprinting down the field before somersaulting in for her fifth try of the tournament.

“I just I looked up and I saw the gates of heaven leading straight [in]. I’m just kidding,” she said with a grin. “No, I looked up and it was just so open and I just thought it’s now or never. And so I just took it. And I’m so glad I did because I think it ignited something really amazing in our team and they just brought it home.”

2nd-half surge

Two minutes into the second half, Florence Symonds tossed up the ball as she fell, getting it to Asia Hogan-Rochester, who evaded a tackle and dove in to touch. Apps made her second conversion of the day and Canada took a 14-12 lead.

They never looked back.

With less than two minutes on the clock and the ball in her arms, Logan leapt over the try line while being tackled by an Australian player. The duo rolled, leading referee George Selwood to consult with video review before declaring Logan’s try successful. Apps made yet another conversion and gave the Canadians a 21-12 lead.

Getting to the gold-medal game has been a process, Williams said.

“Everything that we’ve been working on in the last three and a half year, and especially this last season, it’s all accumulated into this game, to this tournament,” she said.

“We’ve taken down teams that have just given us trouble all season long. We’re so lucky to have beaten every single team in the regular season and to come here with that kind of confidence, I think it just like really uplifted us. And we just came out and did our job every single game.”

Canada’s best result in women’s rugby sevens came in 2016 when the team won bronze at the Rio Games, the first time the discipline was included in the Olympics.

New Zealand is the reigning Olympic champion.

WATCH l Go inside the huddle with Canada after 2023 exhibition loss to Australia:

Come inside the huddle with Canada’s women’s Rugby 7s team

12 months ago

Duration 1:50

In August, 2023, Canada’s women’s rugby 7’s team lost an exhibition match to Australia. We mic’d up Coach Jack Hanratty after the match, and listened in on him talking to his players.

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