Canadian rugby 7s men fall in Trophy semis at World Series

The Canadian men's team split a pair of games on Saturday but ultimately fell to France in the Challenge Trophy semifinal at the season opening World Rugby Sevens Series in Dubai on Saturday.

• CFLer Tevaughn Campbell crosses over to rugby sevens

Canada began the day with a 10-5 win over the United States in the quarter-finals before dropping a 28-21 decision to France.

World Rugby Men's Sevens Series Dubai: Challenge Semifinal - Canada vs. France

7 years ago

Duration 20:13

World Rugby Men's Sevens World Series from Dubai

Canada defeated Uganda 22-17 on Friday, but went 1-2 overall in Pool A and did not advance to the Cup playoffs. 

Team captain Harry Jones reached a milestone as he was competing in his 50th tournament for Canada. 

Coach Damian McGrath offered congratulations to Jones and pointed out the significance of his accomplishment. 

South Africa takes title

South Africa defended the Dubai Sevens rugby title by beating New Zealand 24-12 in the final.

New Zealand undermined its cause in the first minute when Joe Ravouvou was sin-binned for a high tackle on Branco du Preez. South Africa exploited the extra man with successive tries by Philip Snyman, Seabelo Senatla, and Kwagga Smith to be 19-0.

Then Rosko Specman was sin-binned for a deliberate knock on, and New Zealand came back through tries by Andrew Knewstubb and Scott Curry to cut the deficit to seven.

But South Africa managed the time well, and Tim Agaba scored with a break from a lineout with seconds to go.

The South Africans won Dubai for the third time in four seasons.

They beat Fiji 12-7 in the semifinals, and Samoa 26-10 in the quarterfinals.

New Zealand reached its first final in the world series since Hong Kong in April 2016, 13 tournaments ago, by knocking out Australia and England.

The second leg in Cape Town is next weekend.