Canadian women's rugby 7s team suffers narrow quarter-final loss to Ireland in Toulouse

A late try by Eva Higgins lifted Ireland to a 22-21 rugby win over Canada in Cup quarter-final play Saturday at the HSBC France Sevens in Toulouse.

Renee Gonzalez, Olivia Apps and Olivia De Couvreur scored tries for Canada with Apps and Breanne Nicholas combing for three conversions.

The Canadian women defeated Spain 26-12 and Scotland 14-7 on Friday but fell 17-0 to New Zealand in their final pool game Saturday. New Zealand topped the group, outscoring the opposition 91-0.

WATCH | Canada's women's 7s squad falls to Ireland in quarters:

New Zealand will face Fiji in the Cup semifinals Sunday while Australia takes on Ireland.

The Canadian men lost 24-5 to England before upsetting Argentina 19-12 on Friday.

Argentina came into the tournament in second place overall in the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series, having finished on the podium in five of the six previous events including a first-place finish at the HSBC Canada Sevens in Vancouver last time out in April.

Canada wrapped up pool play Saturday with a 40-14 win over Japan but missed out on the Cup quarter-finals on point differential behind England.

Canada trailed Japan 14-7 at the half but took control with second-half tries from captain Phil Berna, Brennig Provost and Thomas Isherwood and a pair from Elisas Ergas. Cooper Coats kicked five conversions.

WATCH | Canada's men's 7s team comes up short against Spain:

There was controversy in the other game in Canada's pool when England's Will Homer, with his side trailing 19-0, crossed the Argentina goal-line with 2 1/2 minutes remaining in the match.

Knowing the try would be enough to move England past Canada into the Cup quarter-finals on points differential, Homer elected to kill off the clock and didn't touch the ball