Canada finishes 13th at Dubai Sevens

Theirs has been a running rivalry across different spheres of sport and quite fittingly, the two best women’s rugby sevens sides, squared off in the Cup final. They faced New Zealand while England, runners-up previous year, met Scotland.

New Kenya coach Innocent Simiyu has given a qualified satisfaction to the team for their Challenge Trophy semi-final exit on Saturday at the Dubai Sevens, the opening leg of the 10-tournament World Rugby Sevens Series.

When Jerry Tuwai crossed under the posts for the Olympic gold medalists it looked ominous for South Africa, but Dry edged South Africa ahead before Senatla went over for his 11th try of the tournament.

England defeated Wales – 33-10 to win bronze courtesy of Dan Norton’s four tries while Australia finished in fifth place.

He is now set to become the most-capped player in the Rugby Sevens World Series.

“It is so freakish seeing everyone come back together [after the Olympics], Scotland have been playing some great stuff and they definitely had the upper hand in tournaments we played previous year”.

Adam Zaruba scored with three minutes remaining to tied the score at 19-19 before Nacuqu’s second try of the game gave Fiji its 42nd win in 44 meetings with Canada.

Fiji started scrappy, but are favourites to win 22 points overall this weekend and lead the series. Scotland grabbed a consolation score but it proved too late as Australia claimed fifth spot.

Australian women: Sharni Williams (capt), Shannon Parry (capt), Chloe Dalton, Tiana Penitani, Brooke Anderson, Georgie Friedrichs, Emilee Cherry, Charlotte Caslick, Emma Sykes, Alicia Quirk, Mahalia Murphy, Emma Tonegato.

Early tries from Cecil Afrika and Branco du Preez put the Blitzboks into a commanding 14-0 lead before Fiji captain Osea Kolinisau struck back to leave it 14-7 at the break.

Apart from Blyde, Nathan-Wong made two conversions. Russian Federation beat England 19-14 for the bronze.

Mulhall missed the second bite at the cherry and left Ireland with a draw that sends them into a Challenge Trophy semi-final against the US at 08.14 (Irish time) tomorrow.