CANADA DEMOLISHED their rivals, in both the women and men’s cup finals, as they took home their respective titles and solidified their domination of the Rugby Americas North Sevens Championship 2016 (RAN 7s), as the event came to a conclusion last evening, at CIC grounds in St Clair.
Canada’s women team started off the day with a 40-0 win over Jamaica, in the last fixture of the group stage, and maintained their undefeated status from day one, by trashing Mexico by a margin of 43-0.
The result was enough to secure them a place in the final against a resilient Jamaican side that were determined to the challenge for the trophy.
However, Canada had other plans as they marched over Jamaica once more, by defeating them 41-0 in the final, and went on their way to lift the RAN 7s Women’s Cup.
The Canadian men’s team also ended the competition undefeated, but they had to endure some eventful encounters before lifting the title as the other teams attempted to put a dent the eventual champions.
The Canadian men started day two with a 24-0 victory over Mexico and then clashed with Jamaica and emerged victorious by a 5-0 scoreline.
In the RAN 7s Men’s Cup final, Canada took on Guyana and the ‘Maple Leaf ’ squad disposed of their challengers by 52-7 to claim the trophy and finished the two-day tournament without a loss.
After a strong start to the tournament, both teams representing Trinidad and Tobago, were defeated in the semi-final stages of the competition.
The women’s team started Day Two positively as they defeated Mexico to emerge as group winners but ‘The Scarletts’ were not able to overcome Jamaica in the semis as they went down 10-5.
The men saw similar fate as they too started off with a 17-7 victory over Bermuda in their first match, but bowed out at the same semi final level by suffering a tough 5-0 defeat to Guyana.
Both teams subsequently lost their third place playoff matches.
Minister of Sport and Youth Affairs, Darryl Smith, expressed his sentiments of the event by stating, “The (TT Rugby Football Union) and its president (Leslie Figaro) have been doing a fantastic job and it was a pleasure to be part of the Rugby Americas North (Ran 7s) by hosting the event on our shores. However, it was a pity our teams did not make it to the finals but hopefully we can build on this experience.” He went on to state the importance of introducing the game at a primary and secondary level to keep the sport growing throughout the country and thanked the investment from the Office of the Prime Minister’s Sport and Culture Fund for making the event possible.
RAN 7s Awards: Women’s Plate Winner - Mexico Men’s Plate Winner - Mexico Women’s Cup Winner - Canada Men’s Shield Winner - Curacao Men’s Bowl Winner - Martinique Men’s Cup Winner - Canada