Canadians Ghislaine Landry, Britt Benn named to rugby sevens Dream Team

Canadians Ghislaine Landry and Britt Benn have been named to the HSBC 2020 women’s rugby sevens Dream Team.

Landry, the Canadian captain, is the all-time leading scorer on the women’s sevens circuit with 1,356 points. The 32-year-old from Toronto scored 170 of those in the pandemic-shortened 2020 season.

Benn, a 31-year-old from Napanee, Ont., has 335 career points on 67 tries.

The all-star team also includes American Kristi Kirshe, Australia’s Sharni Williams and New Zealand’s Ruby Tui, Stacey Fluhler and Tyla Nathan-Wong.

The men’s Dream Team consists of France’s Tavite Veredamu, Ireland’s Jordan Conroy, New Zealand’s Scott Curr, Fiji’s Napolioni Bolaca and Aminiasi Tuimaba, and South Africa’s J.C. Pretorius and Selvyn Davids.

New Zealand was previously announced as winner of both the men’s and women’s series.

The New Zealand men won three of the six events — including Vancouver — that took place before the season was shut down with four events remaining. South Africa was second and Fiji third in the standings.

The Canadian men, who finished third in Vancouver, were eighth. 

The New Zealand women won four of five events, finishing ahead of Australia and Canada. The Canadian women finished second four times and third once.

Three events, including Langford, B.C., on the women’s circuit, were called off due to COVID-19.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 21 2020.

The Canadian Press