Canadian women earn historic 19 10 rugby victory over New Zealand

Canada beats New Zealand Sevens for the first time (Photo courtesy of the official Facebook page of Rugby Canada).

SAO PAULO—Ghislaine Landry, Kayla Moleschi and Jen Kish had tries to lead Canada to a historic 19-10 semifinal win over New Zealand on Sunday at the Sao Paulo sevens women’s rugby event.

The win was Canada’s first ever against New Zealand, the three-time defending series champions. The Canadians had dropped seven of the previous eight matches, the other ending in a tie.

Prior to facing Canada, New Zealand was unbeaten at the tournament. Last season’s series champion had defeated the U.S., Spain, Russia and Brazil, allowing just four tries along the way.

The Canadians rallied from an early 5-0 deficit and will face Australia in the Cup final. Canada lost 29-14 to the Australians on Saturday.

Landry added to conversions against New Zealand.

Earlier, the Canadians defeated France 19-0 in a quarter-final match to improve to 8-1 all-time versus the French.

Landry, Kish and Britt Benn all had tries for Canada. Kelly Russell added a conversion.

The Canadians won two of their three games Saturday, beating Ireland 26-7 and Fiji 24-7 before losing to Australia.

Canada finished second in the overall women’s seven series standings last year to secure Olympic qualification.