Canada and the USA women's Sevens teams went both reached the Rugby World Cup Sevens in Dubai by easily making it through NAWIRA qualifying.
While the USA got the better of Canada in the men's event, in the women's the fortunes were reversed, Canada beating their rivals in the final 19-14 to qualify alongside them and complete the 16-team draw at next year's first ever Rugby World Cup Sevens for women.
The 16 teams to compete in the women's competition in Dubai are: Brazil, England, Netherlands, Russia, France, Spain, Italy, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Uganda, Japan, Thailand, China, USA and Canada.
The Women’s Cup final was every bit as competitive as the bruising men's match and, although the American women controlled the majority of possession in the first half, Canada led 7-0 at the break. Canada scored quickly in the second half but the USA hit back with two tries late in the game to take it into sudden-death extra time.
And it was Canada who scored the decisive try, Rosie Cobbett racing over for the winner in a 19-14 victory.
“This was a huge win for us, 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," said Canada’s Natasha Wesch.
“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 World Cup,” said USA women’s Sevens coach Julie McCoy. “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.”
Day 2 – Results
Women’s Quarter finals
USA 67, Cayman 0
Guyana 12, Jamaica 0
Trinidad and Tobago 34, Barbados 0
Canada 34, Bermuda 0
Women’s Bowl Semi finals
Jamaica 34, Cayman 0
Bermuda 15, Barbados 10
Women’s Cup Semi finals
USA 59, Guyana 0
Canada 41, Trinidad and Tobago 0
Women’s Shield
Cayman 10, Barbados 5
Women’s Bowl
Jamaica 53, Bermuda 0
Women’s Plate & Caribbean Championships
Guyana 15, Trinidad & Tobago 5
Women’s Cup Finals & RWC Sevens Qualifiers
Canada 19, USA 14
