South Africa defeat France for Canada Sevens title

Rugby

Defending World Series champion South Africa bagged the Canada Sevens on Sunday in Vancouver, beating France 21-12 to take the trophy.

Impi Visser, Selvyn Davids and Werner Kok each scored tries for South Africa who climbed to fourth overall in the men’s World Rugby Sevens Series standings.

France made a surprise run to the final, their first appearance in the title round since 2012, but came up short despite tries from Pierre Gilles Lakafia and Stephen Parez.

The United States, who lead standings and won the previous tournament in Las Vegas, were routed 33-5 in the semifinals by France. South Africa had advanced to the final by beating Fiji 31-12 in their last four match.

The top four teams at the end of the season will earn automatic qualification for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

Australia, meanwhile, defeated Canada 35-21 to win the Challenge Trophy.

The Australians brushed aside the disappointment of finishing third in their pool to miss out on progressing to the Cup quarterfinals by winning three matches on Sunday to finish ninth in the sixth leg of the 10-event season.

Simon Kennewell and Dylan Pietsch scored first-half tries for Australia before Canada hit back to trail 14-7 at halftime.

The Aussies put the issue beyond doubt with Henry Hutchison and John Porch scoring tries early in the second half. Canada scored another two tries, either side of Pietsch’s second five-pointer, but it was too little to late as the green and gold cruised to victory.

Earlier on Sunday, Australia defeated Kenya 47-7 and Wales 33-22 to advance to the Challenge Trophy final. Australia were relegated from the Cup competition after an unpredictable pool day, with losses to France and New Zealand after a win over Spain.

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