Former Canada coach leads Kenya past Canadian men at New Zealand 7s
Kenya, under former Canada coach Damian McGrath, defeated the Canadian men 21-5 on Saturday in consolation play at the HSBC New Zealand Sevens in Hamilton, New Zealand.
A first-half try by Canada's Brock Webster cancelled out a score by Edmund Anya but tries by Willy Ambaka and George Ooro Angeyo carried the 14th-ranked Kenyans past No. 13 Canada.
The loss consigned Canada to the 13th-place semifinal against No. 11 Uruguay.
The ninth-ranked Canadian women faced No. 8 Spain in the ninth-place semifinal later Saturday. On Friday, Canada tied No. 4 France 12-12 before losing 33-7 to No. 1 Australia and 17-7 to No. 10 Japan in Pool B play. It marked Japan's first-ever win over the Canadians.
A statement-making win for <a href="https://twitter.com/KenyaSevens?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@KenyaSevens</a>!<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NZ7s?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NZ7s</a> | <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/HSBC7s?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#HSBC7s</a> <a href="https://t.co/BwMfEi1hnO">pic.twitter.com/BwMfEi1hnO</a>
McGrath was put in charge of the Canadian men in October 2016, succeeding Zimbabwe's Liam Middleton, whose contract was not renewed after Canada failed to qualify for the Rio Olympics. The veteran English coach led the Canadians to the tournament title in Singapore in 2017, the first Cup win in the Canadian men's 140th event on the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series circuit but was fired in May 2019 with the team in 12th place in the standings.
Henry Paul, who succeeded McGrath, stepped down as Canada coach in November with assistant coach Sean White taking over as interim head coach.
The Canadian men dropped into the consolation bracket in New Zealand after going 1-2-0 on Friday, losing 34-5 to No.
