WELLINGTON, New Zealand — Canada wrapped up its fourth stop of the Rugby Sevens World Series by beating Samoa 26-10 to claim the Shield at the Wellington Sevens event.
Harry Jones, John Moonlight, Justin Douglas and Admir Cejvanovic each scored a try to lead the Canadians to victory.
Canada was up 7-5 at the break after Jones’ effort came in reply to Gregory Foe’s fifth minute try. In the second half, the Canadians asserted their domiance with further scores from the latter trio, giving the squad a boost ahead of the its next tournament in Las Vegas– which starts Friday.
Earlier in the day, Canada suffered a 26-0 defeat against Portugal in their Bowl quarter-final, but bounced back by overcoming Japan 28-21 to move into the Shield final.
Four tries were amassed by the Portuguese in a game Canada entered as favourites due to Portugal going winless during the pool stages.
Aderito Esteves went over first inside one minute with a converted score that immediately had the Canadians on the trailing end.
Portugal’s speed and fine offloading game– coupled with Canada’s unconvincing defence– led to Carl Murray making it a 12-0 lead going into the turnaround.
There was no chance for a comeback as Esteves and then Nuno Guedes sealed the one-sided contest.
Needing a victory against Japan, Canada survived a second-half scare, but managed to hold off the Japanese to book their place in the Shield final.
Two first-half tries from Mike Fuailefau and one by Sean White put the Canadians ahead 21-0 with only five minutes played.
Katsuyuki Sakai scored a try before half and after the break it was all Japan as it notched further tries through Yoshikazu Fujita (2) that locked up the scoreline 21-21 apiece.
Fortunately for Canada, Liam Underwood crossed in the twelfth minute and Jones’ superb touchline conversion proved enough to end the Japanese challenge and seal Canada’s place in the final.