Canada's women's rugby team advances to semifinals

By Joe Pack, CBC Sports

Canada defeated France 15-5 in the quarter-finals of the women's rugby sevens tournament Sunday at the Rio Olympics, giving the team the opportunity to play for a medal.

The Canadian side will take on top-ranked Australia in the semis on Monday (1:30 p.m. ET).

The winner of that match advances to the gold medal game, while the loser will play for bronze.

• VIDEO: Canada's third try sends them to semifinals in women's rugby
• SCHEDULE: Rugby at Rio 2016
• Canadian women's teams make statement at Olympics

Canada took a 10-5 lead late in the match when substitute Bianca Farella scored a try after a string of good play and possession. Ghislane Landry added a late try to salt away the win.

Head coach John Tait brought on Farella early in the second half, hoping to take advantage of a tiring French team. It worked as Farella powered her way over before Landry added the insurance try.

Olympic dream in sight

Captain Jen Kish said when she saw Landry seal the win, she realized their Olympic dream was "getting more real."

"But we've got to execute and we've got to put the foot down on the throttle and keep moving forward," said Kish. 

Canada holds a 9-2 record all-time on the World Series against France, outscoring them 212-63. But the French beat them last time out, 14-12 in Langford, B.C., in a game that saw Canada squander a 12-0 lead in the last two minutes the Cup quarter-finals.

Sunday was a little payback on a far bigger stage.

​France struck first on a try that required video review, but the score stood and France, which missed the conversion, led 5-0. 

Minutes later, Canada's Kayla Moleschi produced a long run to equal the score with her own try. Canada also missed the conversion.

The Canadians' perfect record was snapped earlier in the day by Great Britain with a 22-0 loss. They had previously beaten both Brazil and Japan by a combined score of 83-0, securing them a spot in the quarter-finals.

Canadians have more to prove

The third-seeded Canadians can be much better — and will need to be — against gold-medal favourite Australia in Monday's semifinal. 

"We still have lots to go out there and show," said Steacy. "I think you're going to see a lot more."

Australia won the first three events of the World Series this season but was beaten 29-19 by Canada in the fifth and final stop of the tour. 

Coach Tait knows that a repeat win will need a better showing than he got on Sunday. 

"We just can't afford to make turnovers like we did in the two games today against them," said Tait. "They'll punish any team for that many turnovers." 

Tait firmly believes his players have the right stuff.

"We've earned a really great opportunity" he said. "Australia's going to be a tough team but our girls are confident that if we look after the ball and play the way we can, we can beat Australia."

France was eliminated from the tournament with the loss.

With files from The Canadian Press