Team Canada is taking home some unexpected hardware this week. The boys in red defeated the United States earlier today and lifted the World Rugby Sevens Cup. This marks the first championship for the Cinderella squad who have competed in a hefty 140 tournaments throughout the years. After multiple upsets over worthy competitors, the Canucks bested the Americans on Sunday with a score of 26-19.
It was a shocking conclusion to a Singapore Sevens series that featured the Canadians as underdogs in practically every matchup. Not only did the team defeat the fifth-ranked U.S. Eagles, but so too did they topple the third and fourth-ranked New Zealand and English crews.
Speaking with CBC News, Rugby Canada captain John Moonlight said the win required resilience after his team's only loss of the tournament: a 35-7 smackdown from world #2, Fiji. "We took a licking from Fiji yesterday and took a licking from the coach, from the players and ourselves and we showed up today and showed the world that we can beat anyone. We beat three of the top five teams here so we're flying."
British Columbia native and Canada's all-time points leader, Nathan Hirayama, was named Player of the Final. He and his squad surprised everyone by landing their second-ever appeareance in a series final. It proved to be an emotional moment for the MVP, who struggled to hold back his sheer excitment and pride.
The incredible win now puts the men's national team in seventh place, which is quite considerable given the group's lacklustre finish in the quarter finals last month in Vancouver. Judging by everyone's on-field play this past week, the future is looking bright for the Great White North.
