Canadian men continue climb back up rugby 7s ladder with Dubai victory

The Canadian men continued their climb back up the rugby sevens ladder Sunday, winning an HSBC SVNS Division 3 challenger event in Dubai.

It took some late heroics in their semifinal against Hong Kong to earn promotion to the three-event HSBC SVNS 2 series. With only the two finalists moving on, Canada needed to get past Hong Kong.

Canada opened the scoring with an Elias Hancock try and led 7-5 at the half at The Sevens Stadium. Captain Lockie Kratz extended the lead to 14-5 early in the second half, only to see Hong Kong pull ahead 19-14 on a pair of converted tries.

Adam Doane pulled Canada even at 19-19 with a 13th-minute try, forcing extra time. Thomas Isherwood then scored two minutes later to give the Canadians a 24-19 golden-point win.

That set up a final with Belgium, which upset previously unbeaten Samoa 26-14 in the other semifinal. The Belgians had finished runner-up to Canada in Pool B, despite winning their group-stage game 19-15.

Canada never trailed in the rematch, leading 14-10 at the half on pair of Kratz tries with Jack Shaw and Ethan Turner adding second-half tries for a 28-10 win.

On Saturday, the Canadians sandwiched wins over Italy (33-7) and Madagascar (24-17) around the Belgium loss.

The stand-alone SVNS 3 tournament featured eight men's and eight women's teams. The top two men's and women's sides earned promotion to the HSBC SVNS 2 series in Nairobi (Feb. 14-15), Montevideo (March 21-22) and Sao Paulo (March 28-29). The SVNS 2 series is one level below the elite HSBC SVNS circuit, which is home to the Canadian women.

The top four men's and women's teams from HSBC SVNS 2 will then join the eight HSBC SVNS core sides for the final events in Hong Kong, Valladolid, Spain, and Bordeaux,