Widow looking for answers after Quebec man dies in Texas Ironman competition
The widow of a Quebec man who died competing in an Ironman competition is looking for answers.
After cruising past Germany in their first game, the Canadian men needed a late try from Matthew Percillier to defeat Chile 19-14 and remain undefeated Saturday at the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series.
Trailing 14-12, Percillier took a pass from captain Phil Berna to score the winning points.
"We found our footing in the second half," said Percillier, a member of the University of British Columbia Thunderbirds and one of several players making their World Rugby Sevens debut. "If we bring that tempo the whole game, no one is going to keep up with us."
Veterans Andrew Coe and Jake Thiel also scored tries for Canada.
"It was a team performance," said Coe, a member of the team that finished eighth at the Tokyo Olympics. "Any time one of our players fell down or made a mistake, six other guys helped him back up and worked hard for each other."
The Canadian women were beaten 22-12 by the U.S. and 19-5 by Great Britain before defeating Mexico 39-0 in the opening day of the Fast Four competition.
"We built every game," said coach Kelly Russell, a member of the Canadian team that won bronze at the 2016 Rio Olympics. "To end the game with a success like that is really positive moving into Day 2."
Brennig Prevost scored one try and set up another on a pretty play to Berna as the men started the day with a convincing 24-5 win over Germany.
Josiah Morra of Toronto scored two tries while Prevost kicked two converts.
Prevost, the Victoria native making his World Ruby Sevens debut, assisted on Berna's opening try of the game. He kicked a ball into the end zone that the Canadian captain was able to get a hand on.
"We knew we had good young guys coming off the bench," said Berna. "We had to set that platform. We wanted to provide a good structure for them."
Alysha Corrigan of Charlottetown, P.E.I., scored two tries in the women's win over Mexico. Emma Chown of Barrie, Ont., Fancy Bermudez Chavez of Edmonton, Olivia Apps of Victoria, Chloe Daniels of Sutton, Ont., and Asia Hogan-Rochester of Toronto also scored.
Canada led the U.S. 12-5 at halftime of the opening match before giving up 17 second-half points.
"Sevens comes down to fitness and those extra couple of metres," said Apps, the team captain. "The U.S. really took it to us. They found our weaknesses in the defensive line and used them perfectly to keep possession and score.
"It was a tough match."
Chown scored two tries while Daniels kicked two converts.
Renee Gonzalez, a Scarborough, Ont., native who now attends the University of Victoria, scored Canada's lone points in the loss to Great Britain.
Canada (1-2) will play the U.S. (2-1) in one semifinal Sunday while Great Britain (3-0) faces Mexico (0-3). The winners play for the gold medal while the loser meet for bronze.
The tournament is the first HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series event since COVID-19 put the brakes on the circuit last March. Canada finished third in the last tournament played in Vancouver.
COVID-19 concerns meant attendance at BC Place Stadium was capped at around 13,500 in the lower bowl, but that didn't deter fans from dressing for the event. Scattered among the crowd were wizards in tall hats, a bunch of yellow bananas, different varieties of furry creatures, several pirates, a group dressed like canned clams, what looked like a bottle of ketchup, some Mounties, a blue shark, and several people in loud Hawaiian shirts.
This year's tournament has only 12 men's teams instead of the normal 16. Rugby powerhouses like New Zealand, Fiji, Australia and Samoa decided to skip the event.
The Canadian men have been drawn in Pool C with the U.S., Chile and Germany.
Several veterans of the Canadian men's team like Nate Hirayama, Connor Braid, Justin Douglas and Conor Trainor all retired after the Tokyo Games.
World Rugby says there will be no relegation from the 2021 Series and the results will not count toward seedings for future events.
The two-day tournament ends Sunday.
The teams next head to Edmonton to play next weekend.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 18, 2021.
The widow of a Quebec man who died competing in an Ironman competition is looking for answers.
Former NDP leader Tom Mulcair says that what's happening now in a trash-littered federal park in Quebec is a perfect metaphor for how the Trudeau government runs things.
The world is seeing a near breakdown of international law amid flagrant rule-breaking in Gaza and Ukraine, multiplying armed conflicts, the rise of authoritarianism and huge rights violations in Sudan, Ethiopia and Myanmar, Amnesty International warned Wednesday as it published its annual report.
A photographer who worked for Megan Thee Stallion said in a lawsuit filed Tuesday that he was forced to watch her have sex, was unfairly fired soon after and was abused as her employee.
Facing pushback from physicians and businesspeople over the coming increase to the capital gains inclusion rate, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his deputy Chrystia Freeland are standing by their plan to target Canada's highest earners.
The Senate passed legislation Tuesday that would force TikTok's China-based parent company to sell the social media platform under the threat of a ban, a contentious move by U.S. lawmakers that's expected to face legal challenges.
People living near a wildfire burning about 15 kilometres southwest of Peace River are being told to evacuate their homes.
The U.S. Senate has passed US$95 billion in war aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, sending the legislation to President Joe Biden after months of delays and contentious debate over how involved the United States should be in foreign wars.
A Winnipeg man said a single date gone wrong led to years of criminal harassment, false arrests, stress and depression.
The giant stone statues guarding the Lions Gate Bridge have been dressed in custom Vancouver Canucks jerseys as the NHL playoffs get underway.
A local Oilers fan is hoping to see his team cut through the postseason, so he can cut his hair.
A family from Laval, Que. is looking for answers... and their father's body. He died on vacation in Cuba and authorities sent someone else's body back to Canada.
A former educational assistant is calling attention to the rising violence in Alberta's classrooms.
The federal government says its plan to increase taxes on capital gains is aimed at wealthy Canadians to achieve “tax fairness.”
At 6'8" and 350 pounds, there is nothing typical about UBC offensive lineman Giovanni Manu, who was born in Tonga and went to high school in Pitt Meadows.
Kevin the cat has been reunited with his family after enduring a harrowing three-day ordeal while lost at Toronto Pearson International Airport earlier this week.
Molly Knight, a Grade 4 student in Nova Scotia, noticed her school library did not have many books on female athletes, so she started her own book drive in hopes of changing that.
Almost 7,000 bars of pure gold were stolen from Pearson International Airport exactly one year ago during an elaborate heist, but so far only a tiny fraction of that stolen loot has been found.