By Canadian Press

Canadian men finish 11th at Dubai Rugby Sevens after loss to France

Dec 1, 2018 | 1:32 PM

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — The Canadian men finished 11th at the Emirates Airline Dubai Rugby Sevens after losing 28-12 to France in the consolation Challenge Trophy semifinals Saturday.

Canada trailed 21-0 before Pat Kay scored to cut the French lead to 21-5 at the half. France increased its lead to 28-5 with Adam Zaruba in the sin-bin for not releasing on a try-saving tackle. Connor Braid then closed out the scoring for Canada.

Injury-hit New Zealand won the opening round of the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series, defeating the U.S. 21-5. The All Blacks were missing four players through injury for the final.

On Friday, New Zealand’s Black Ferns beat Canada 26-14 in the women’s final.

Tone Ng Shiu gave the New Zealand men a 7-0 lead with a first-half converted try. The U.S. took advantage when Luke Masirewa was sin-binned early in the second half for a high tackle, with Stephen Tomasin touching down in the corner to cut the lead to 7-5 with four minutes remaining.

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The U.S. was caught napping on a Dylan Collier try that upped the lead to 14-5. Things went from bad to worse when the Americans were penalized for having eight men on the field.

Ngarohi McGarvey-Black’s late try sealed the win. 

New Zealand has won the World Series overall title 12 times since 1999. It has 56 tournament victories to the Americans’ two.

The All Blacks had beaten the Eagles 24-7 in pool play Friday.

A Harry Glover try with time running out lifted England to a 15-14 win over Australia in the third-place match. Fiji placed fifth, beating defending Series champion South Africa 24-19 in extra time.

Matt Mullins scored two tries and Braid, Zaruba, Justin Douglas and Pat Kay added singles in Canada’s earlier 38-5 win over Zimbabwe on Saturday. 

Canada went 1-2 Friday, losing 26-12 to England and 31-19 to Australia before beating Japan 27-7.

The men, whose pre-season preparations were interrupted by a labour dispute with Rugby Canada, now head to Cape Town for next weekend’s second stop of the HSBC World Rugby Series.

“I know elite teams are measured on results but after the traumas of last 3 months & hardly any preparation I was really proud of the efforts of our boys,” Canada coach Damian McGrath said via social media. “They ran until they dropped & exceeded all my expectations with some great rugby. More to come!!”

Canada finished ninth overall on the circuit last season. Its best finish on the circuit was sixth.

While New Zealand built its lead atop the women’s standings after two of six events, Canada vaulted over the U.S. to move into second spot. The Canadian women have won 10 of 12 matches this season, losing only to the Black Ferns.

A top-four finish in the overall standings this season means automatic qualification for the 2020 Olympics. Failure to do that means having to go to a regional qualifier.

The Canadian women won bronze at the 2016 Rio Olympics. The men failed to qualify.

The Canadian Press