Canadian women defeat Ireland in opening match at New Zealand Sevens

HAMILTON, New Zealand — Canada captain Ghislaine Landry booted her 300th career conversion in a 24-7 win over Ireland at the HSBC New Zealand Sevens on Friday.

Landry came into the tournament with 299 conversions, second only to New Zealand’s Tyla Nathan-Wong’s 379. The 31-year-old from Toronto already led all women on the circuit with 1,286 points coming into Hamilton.

Britt Benn’s fourth-minute try set the stage for Landry’s milestone kick

A converted try by Hannah Tyrrell tied it at 7-7 before Kaili Lukan, with the Irish down a player after Louise Galvin was sin-binned for taking out a Canadian without the ball, scored before the break for a 12-7 Canadian lead.

Charity Williams and Lukan added to the Canadian lead with second-half tries. Landry finished with two conversions.

“The end result was good but we’ll look to keep getting better,” said Landry.

France defeated Spain 31-7 in the opening Pool C match. Canada faced No. 7 Spain later in the day before wrapping up group play against No. 5 France the next day.

The Canadian women came into the tournament fourth overall in the standings after three events on the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series. After a disappointing sixth-place finish in the season opener in Colorado, they were runners-up in Dubai and third in Cape Town.

The Irish women were 10th overall.

The Canadian men opened play against Ireland and France.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 24, 2020.

The Canadian Press