NEWS REPORT

Canada 10 - USA 12

In the most surprising IRB Sevens tournament to date, Canada were eliminated by Argentina 21-0, but so too were hosts, and recently crowned World Champions New Zealand on the other side of the Plate Semi-finals. Samoa shocked the Kiwis and their 20,000 fans at Westpac Trust Stadium in windy Wellington on Saturday by eliminating them from the Plate competition, a situation in which New Zealand rarely finds itself. Australia will play Fiji in the Cup final, and Argentina will play Samoa for the Plate.

Argentina score three first-half tries and held on in the second, to beat a young Canadian side sporting five rookies.

Despite the loss, a reasonably good tournament for the Canadians, blunted by a disappointing loss to the USA 12-10 in the Cup Quarter-finals. " Our young players, Victoria's Ed Fairhurst, Akio Tyler, and Harold Williams, White Rock's Todd McBride and Vancouver's Jim Douglas all proved that they are capable of playing international Sevens," said coach Dave Hill. " Vancouver's veteran captain Jason Hartley provided quality leadership. Abbotsford's John Cannon, Toronto's Marco Di Giralomo, and University of Western Ontario's Rob Wolfenden continue to improve with every outing, while veterans Montreal's Shane Thompson and Victoria's Jesse Frender put in their usual solid performances. Canada suffered from the loss of speedster Victoria's Fred Asselin, who suffered a leg injury early in the event."

Canada's next Sevens tour will be to the Hong Kong and Shanghai Sevens at the end of March as the IRB ten tournament Series continues.