Great Britain leaps past Canada in women's Olympic rugby
Brits grab early lead and don't look back
By Jonathan Rumley, CBC Sports
Canada's women's rugby sevens squad couldn't keep their perfect record intact, suffering a loss to Great Britain on Sunday during preliminary action at the Rio Olympics.
During the 22-0 loss, Canada didn't look like the same team that came out swinging with two shut-out victories Saturday.
Great Britain pounced to an early lead and the Canadians were unable to recover or post any points due to costly turnovers and lacklustre ball movement.
Alice Richardson opened the scoring for Britain with a successful try less than four minutes into the match. Then, with just seconds remaining in the first half, Britain's Amy Wilson Hardy ran nearly the entire field to capitalize on a costly Canadian turnover.
The score was 10-0 at halftime.
Canada gets France next
A little more than two minutes into the second half, Emily Scarratt ran in for a third consecutive British try.
About three minutes later, Scarratt intercepted a Team Canada pass and trotted in for an easy score.
Both teams entered the Sunday showdown on top of the standings with six points apiece.
Canada had already secured its spot in quarter-finals with routs of Japan and Brazil on Day 1, outscoring their opponents by a combined 83-0.
Canada is seeded third in the Olympic field behind No. 1 Australia and No. 2 New Zealand. Britain was seeded fourth.
The Canadians are favoured to win a medal in Rio after capturing gold at last summer's Pan American Games and finishing third on the world circuit this season.
Team Canada meets France in the quarter-finals Sunday at 4:30 p.m. ET.
With files from The Canadian Press
With files from The Canadian Press