Strong finish on Gold Coast

By Adam Kyriacou, October 19th, 2012

Canada saved their best until last on  Day One of the new HSBC IRB World Sevens Series as they came within one  score of New Zealand before overcoming close neighbours the  USA.
The Canucks face off with Portugal in Sunday's Bowl  quarter-final after their one win from three games record on the opening  day in Australia.
Conditions were magnificent on the Gold  Coast as a perfect Skilled Park surface and pleasant weather allowed ample  running rugby and enterprise throughout.
 
Day  One
Canada 0-38 South Africa
It  was a disappointing first outing for Canada as they fell to a clinical  South African outfit 38-0 in a match that brought few positives to take  forward into the next game.
After a period where possession  changed hands on several occasions, South Africa managed to find holes in  the Canucks defence and Steven Hunt exploited that fact as he stepped his  way over the line. Branco du Preez added the conversion before the  Blitzbokke saw space in behind and captain Kyle Brown put a nice chip over  for Tshotsho Mbovane to gather and score. Du Preez couldn't convert on  that occasion.
Canada needed a foothold in the game and finally  managed to gain some territory through strong work from Chauncey O'Toole,  but it was unfortunately in vain as the South Africans broke out from  their own half for their third try of the piece, this time Cornal  Hendricks scored with Du Preez's conversion making it 0-17 at  half-time.
Coach Geraint John attempted to rally his troops  at the break but with Canada's defence being stretched by the minute, the  2008/09 Series champions cut loose with further tries from Chris Dry and  two more for the hat-trick from Hendricks leaving the Canucks wondering  what went wrong in those opening 14 minutes.
Line-up: Nanyak  Dala, John Moonlight, Sean Duke, Philip Mack, Harry Jones, Ciaran Hearn,  Chauncey O'Toole.
 
Canada 21-28 New  Zealand
New Zealand extended their winning streak  over Canada to 20 games but certainly did not have things their own way as  John's side fought bravely for every inch.
Canada defended  admirably early on in what was a much-improved showing than against South  Africa as it took the Kiwis over two minutes - and all their skills - to  break the deadlock. The red wall looked impenetrable until the rangy Tim  Mikkleson was able to offload to playmaker Tomasi Cama, who easily  converted his own try.
That unfortunately was the start of a  barrage of pressure on the Canadian line as Iopu Iopu and then Gareth  Williams-Spiers went over to make it 0-21 in quick  time.
Canada though were sparked into life when a captain's  breakout from Nanyak Dala finally put New Zealand on the back foot. From  that, the industrious Ciaran Hearn was held up over the try-line but then  prop Dala showed his skills with a perfectly weighted cross-field to the  waiting Sean Duke on the right. The Canucks were on the board, with Phil  Mack kicking the conversion excellently from the  touchline.
Canada looked to be growing in confidence after  that and when Duke set off down the left wing for more territory, it was  the start of something special. A lovely short ball from Mack found Hearn  who waltzed in to make it 21-14 with three minutes left.
But  the class of New Zealand's maestro shone through as Cama stepped from the  halfway line and then sprinted the remaining 50 metres for a converted  score to take it to 28-14 before Canada - buoyed by the crowd's support -  had the final say courtesy of some fine counter-rucking leading to a  penalty being sent out to the left touchline where the powerful John  Moonlight barged over. Mack once again was successful with a superb  conversion as Canada finished much the superior  outfit.
Line-up: Nanyak Dala, John Moonlight, Sean Duke,  Philip Mack, Harry Jones, Ciaran Hearn, Chauncey  O'Toole.
 
Canada 22-21  USA
Victory was tasted for the Canucks in their  final game of Day One in Australia as they held on for a much-needed win  to set up a Bowl quarter-final against Portugal.
Buoyed by  their impressive performance against New Zealand, the game opened with a  gift as the USA were sloppy at an early breakdown to allow forward Dala to  pounce on the loose ball before feeding wide man Duke. Mack was once again  successful before things got even better a minute later, this time the  busy Hearn was the man who crossed when he found space on the right  touchline. Duke missed that kick however, but it was 12-0 to cap a strong  opening for the Canadian squad.
12-0 then became 17-0 when  O'Toole showed his determination to get to his feet and reach for the  try-line as Canada were ending the first day with a flourish. 
It was short-lived as the latter stages of the half saw the  USA mount a fightback. First Maka Unufe replied with a breakaway try  against weak midfield defence to make it 17-7 before a penalty try and a  yellow card for Harry Jones, who was penalised for holding a man back in  the act of scoring, made it 17-14 at half-time.
Despite  returning with only six players, Canada were the next to score what proved  a key try as Duke was adjudged to have grounded the ball in a result that  moved John's side eight points clear. USA did hit back with one minute and  30 seconds left to make it 22-21 but Canada held on as Mack ran the ball  out after the hooter.
Line-up: Nanyak Dala, Thyssen de Goede,  Sean Duke, Philip Mack, Harry Jones, Ciaran Hearn, Chauncey  O'Toole.
 
Day Two
 
Canada will  face off against fellow core-team returnees Portugal in the quarter-final  of the Bowl on Sunday with the fixture kicking off at 10:30 (EST of  Australia).
What Head Coach Geraint John  said...
"I was very pleased with the way we came back  today after that first game. Yes it was disappointing how we performed  against South Africa especially defensively. However, we looked at certain  key areas and I thought we addressed them and were very competitive  against New Zealand in the second game and I thought we deserved the win  against USA, although we did make hard work of it near the  end!"
"What pleased me was our improvement in defence and  shape. I believe we are very good at attacking with excellent runners but  we also need to defend and there was significant improvement in that  aspect in the last two pool games today."
"Portugal are good  team and play with great heart and shape. They always battle to the end  and were unlucky not to win two of their games today which would have put  them in the main cup competition. All the teams have improved greatly  since last year and with Kenya reaching the last eight and England in the  bowl competition it shows the strength of the tournament. There really are  no easy games in Sevens."