MADRID — A dismal season ended in relegation for Canada's rugby sevens men on Sunday, beaten 22-14 by Spain in a win-or-bust match that dropped the loser out of the elite HSBC SVNS circuit.
It was a 29th straight defeat for the Canadian men, including four in a row in Madrid. The Canada men, who finished eighth at the Tokyo Olympics, have been a core team on the top sevens circuit since 2012-13 and lifted the trophy in Singapore in 2017.
Canada, which finished the season with a 3-36-0 record, drops down to the second-tier Challenger Series and will have to claw its way back up.
The fifth-ranked Canadian women, in contrast, finished fourth in their championship bracket, beaten 26-14 by No. 1 New Zealand in the bronze-medal game at Civitas Metropolitano Stadium, home of the Atletico Madrid soccer team.
The top eight men's and women's teams competed in a winner-take-all bracket for the title of Grand Final champion in Madrid while the bottom four battled relegation.
No. 2 Australia defeated No. 3 France 26-7 in the women's final, capping a terrific season. The Australia women, who finished two points behind New Zealand in the season standings, won two earlier events and finished on the podium in seven of the eight stops.
No. 5 France, which lifted the cup in Los Angeles and was runner-up in Hong Kong, defeated No. 1 Argentina 19-5 in a men's championship game that saw Argentine star Rodrigo Isgro shown a red card in the final seconds for lifting France's Paulin Riva and driving him into the turf.
Argentina, winners in Cape Town, Perth and Vancouver and runner-up in Dubai, had beaten the French 26-12 in pool play Saturday.
No. 6 Fiji won bronze with a 17-10 victory over No. 3 New Zealand.
After the Canadian women opened with a 26-19 loss Friday to the U.S., they upset New Zealand 26-17 before edging No. 8 Britain 22-17 in extra time to finish atop Championship Pool A on Saturday.
The Canadian women had lost 27 straight to New Zealand since 2016.
A Canada comeback fell just short in a 19-17 loss to France in the women's semifinal Sunday. Australia rallied with a converted try with the clock in the red to edge New Zealand 21-19 in the other semi.
New Zealand, which had won the previous four events, avenged the pool loss to Canada in the bronze-medal game.
Mahina Paul and Theresa Setefano scored first-half tries for New Zealand after Canada's Charity Williams opened the scoring with her 99th career try.
Leading 12-7 at the break, New Zealand added tries by Alena Saili and Jorja Miller while Olivia Apps scored for Canada.
The Canadian men finished bottom of Qualifier Pool A after losses to Uruguay (41-7) Germany (19-14) and the U.S. (14-7). That set up the relegation showdown with unbeaten Spain, which topped Qualifier Pool B.
Canada was without Matt Oworu, who was serving a three-match ban triggered by a red card for a dangerous tackle Friday against Uruguay, and the injured Matt Percillier on Sunday.
Juan Ramos and Manu Moreno gave Spain a 10-0 lead before Josiah Morra, taking advantage of a defensive miscue, cut the Spanish lead to 10-7 with a Cooper Coats conversion. But Spain struck back with a second Ramos try capping off a well-executed attack for a 17-7 lead.
Spain's Josep Serres was sent to the sin-bin early in the second half for a deliberate knockdown of a pass near his own try-line. and Canada immediately took advantage, with Coats scoring a converted try to cut the lead to 17-14.
Restored to seven men, Spain added to the lead with a late Jaime Manteca try.
The Canadian men's last win was Dec. 10 in Cape Town — a 33-17 victory over France to finish seventh on the season's second stop. Canada went winless in Dubai, Perth, Vancouver, Los Angeles, Hong Kong, Singapore and Madrid.
The bottom four teams — the ninth-place U.S., No. 10 Spain, No. 11 Samoa and No. 12 Canada — dropped into the relegation bracket with the top four teams from the Challenger Series — Uruguay, Kenya, Chile and Germany.
The other men's relegation deciders saw the U.S. defeat Samoa 40-19 to preserve their core status, Kenya dump Germany 33-15 and Uruguay edge Chile 12-10 thanks to a last-minute try by Juan Tafernaberry.
The Canada men survived a four-team relegation playoff last year, defeating Kenya 12-7 in London in the final on a last-minute Alex Russell try to preserve its core status.
The 2023 relegation fight was a product of the sevens circuit reducing the number of men's teams to 12 from 16 to align with the women's competition and the Olympic field.
Promotion/relegation is now an annual feature.
Madrid was the final tournament for the Canadian women before the Paris Olympics in July. The Canadian men head to a last-ditch Olympic qualification tournament in Monaco later this month.
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This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 2, 2024
The Canadian Press
