NASSAU, Bahamas – Both the USA and Canada Men’s and Women’s Sevens Teams qualified for the 2009 IRB Rugby World Cup Sevens on Sunday at the Winton Rugby Club in Nassau, Bahamas.

In order to qualify, the teams had to finish in the top two at the NAWIRA (North America West Indies Rugby Association) Sevens tournament this past weekend and both countries did so with very little resistance.

The U.S. Men’s Sevens Team went undefeated in the two-day event, beating Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana and Bermuda in the Cup bracket before meeting up with rival Canada in the final match of the tournament.

The Men’s Cup final featured a very physical match between the USA and Canada. The U.S. found itself on the board first after a kick across the field by Valenese Malifa made its way into the hands of Chris Wyles who ran it in for a try. Malifa converted and the U.S. went up to an early 7-0 lead. Canada would return the favor just before half, after a penalty by the U.S. would cost the Eagles the ball and would lead to the Canadians scoring seven points of their own.

Shortly after halftime, Canada would find the try line once again to hold the lead for the next several minutes at 12-7. It wasn’t until the final two minutes that the U.S. was able to see some space in the Canadian defense and send Justin Boyd through a gap off a switch pass to touch the ball down. Malifa converted to put the U.S. up by two with under a minute to play.

But, the U.S. wasn’t done yet as James Gillenwater dashed all hopes of a Canadian comeback with a quick maneuver on the outside to put the U.S. up by nine points as time wound down.

“Every game that we play against Canada is very, very close,” U.S. Sevens Coach Al Caravelli said. “And, it always comes down to who makes the most mistakes. Both of their tries were from turnovers by us. Our defense didn’t let us down, though, and I’m very pleased with all of our players’ performances today. They really gave it their all and that is all you can ask of a team.

“I have to give credit to the entire squad of 22 that we brought to our assembly the week before this event,” Caravelli added. “The reason this team was so successful was due to the fact that each and every one of the players in that assembly was pushing each other to perform to his potential and we couldn’t have been as competitive without that kind of mentality.”

The women’s Cup final between the USA and Canada fared slightly different, although every bit as competitive. The U.S. Women controlled the majority of possession in the first half, but after a penalty in their own 22 led to a Canadian try, the Eagles would find themselves trailing by seven at halftime.

Canada would score quickly in the second half to put the U.S. down by 14 headed into the final minutes of the match. But, sensing the need for desperate measures, the U.S. women came back and scored two tries of their own to tie the game by the final whistle.

The match went into sudden-death overtime, but not for long, as Canada’s Rosie Cobbett scored the game-ending try to give the Canadians a 19-14 victory.

“This was a huge win for us,” Canada’s Natasha Wesch said after the match. “Neither of us had been under a whole lot of pressure this weekend and we knew that if we kept our shape on defense and stuck to our game plan, we could compete.

“I’m happy with the way we played and that we did what we set out to do,” Wesch added.

“Our goal was to qualify for the RWC,” USA Women’s Sevens Coach Julie McCoy said after the match. “We would have liked to beat Canada, but we accomplished our main goal and were able to develop some newer players in the process. You learn a lot more when you lose, than when you win and when a game is that close, it really could go either way. It took true grit for our women to come back from 14-0 in the second half and I’m happy to see how resourceful and competitive these players really are.”

This NAWIRA Sevens Tournament also decided the annual Caribbean Cup Champions, a most admirable title among the West Indies teams in attendance. On the men’s side, Guyana won the title for the third year in a row, beating Bermuda 42-0 in the men’s third and fourth place playoff match. The Guyana women also took home the Caribbean honor, following a very competitive match against Trinidad and Tobago earlier in the day in which Guyana came out on top 15-5.

Tags: Canadian Rugby Sevens