Canadian women's rugby 7s team to play for 5th place, men close Vancouver tournament with loss

Fancy Bermudez scored a pair of tries as the Canadian women defeated Ireland 24-12 Sunday to put themselves in position for their best result this season at the HSBC Canada Sevens tournament in Vancouver.

The women can place fifth in the tournament with a win over Fiji. Their previous best was eighth in Cape Town, South Africa.

The men, who staged an upset over Australia Friday but missed advancing to the quarterfinals due to a points differential, lost 31-14 to South Africa in their only game Sunday and finished in a tie for 15th place.

"It's a bummer to not come away with points," said captain Phil Berna.

The poor finish was a blow to a men's team that came into the tournament sitting 14th in the World Rugby Sevens Series standings and fighting to avoid relegation

The women fell behind 7-0 against Ireland but responded with 24 straight points. The game turned when prop Olivia De Couvreur of Ottawa delivered a crunching hit early in the first half.

"That was a bit monument piece," said Bermudez. "It really got our energy back up after having a couple unforced errors. We just took that and ran with it."

Co-captain Olivia Apps of Lindsay, Ont., scored a try and kicked two converts. Keyara Wardley of Vulcan, Alta., also scored a try.

The Canadian women entered the tournament with 16 points and ranked 10th after four stops on their tour.

Canada's women will face Fiji in the fifth-place play-off at 7:25 p.m. ET.

New Zealand takes on Australia in the women's Cup final at 8:56 p.m. ET, while Argentina will play France in the men's Cup final at 9:26 p.m. ET. 

Watch live coverage of the men's and women's tournaments on cbcsports.ca, CBC Gem and the CBC Sports app for iOS and Android.

Taking you inside the Canadian women’s