RIO DE JANEIRO -- Canada is through to the Olympic rugby sevens semifinals but not without a struggle.
The Canadian women were beaten 22-0 by Britain in their final pool game before rallying later Sunday to dispatch France 15-5 in quarter-final action on late tries by Bianca Farella and Ghislaine Landry. Farella scored the go-ahead try with two minutes remaining while Landry went over in the dying seconds.
"We have a saying 'Believe you belong' and we really believed out there. And it showed," said veteran Ashley Steacy. "We were gritty and tenacious."
It took a while to get there, however. Against Britain, the Canadian women made a string of uncharacteristic errors. The start against France was equally worrying and Canada left it very late to secure the win.
The third-seeded Canadians can be much better -- and will need to be against gold-medal favourite Australia in Monday's semifinal.
"We still have lots to go out there and show," said Steacy. "I think you're going to see a lot more."
Australia won the first three events of the World Series this season but was beaten 29-19 by Canada in the fifth and final stop of the tour.
Canadian coach John Tait knows that a repeat win will need a better showing than he got on Sunday.
"We just can't afford to make turnovers like we did in the two games today against them," said Tait, a towering six-foot-nine former Canadian international. "They'll punish any team for that many turnovers."
Tait firmly believes his players have the right stuff.
"We've earned a really great opportunity" he said. "Australia's going to be a tough team but our girls are confident that if we look after the ball and play the way we can, we can beat Australia."
The Australians, defending World Series champions and top seed in the Olympic tournament, blanked Spain 24-0 in their quarter-final. No. 2 New Zealand and No. 4 Britain will meet in the other semifinal after beating the U.S. 5-0 and Fiji 26-7, respectively.
The semifinalists do not come as a surprise. They are the class of the women's game. And Canada is the only one of them to have dropped a game en route to the final four.
While Deodoro Stadium was far from full, Canada's quarter-final game was cheered on by French and Canadian fans who were in the mood to have fun. Fans bodysurfed over the crowd and the French offered up a rousing rendition of La Marseillaise.
Keeping with the party mood that rugby sevens is famous for, some fans came in costume.
A poor kickoff by Landry offered a sign of worrying things to come against the French, who kept the ball away from Canada in the early going. France went deservedly ahead in the third minute after a penalty led to a French lineout win and rolling maul before Jade le Pesq broke away for the try.
Kayla Moleschi tied it up for Canada some three minutes later with a solo breakaway run from behind a scrum.
Tait brought on Farella early in the second half, hoping to take advantage of a tiring French team. It worked as Farella powered her way over before Landry added the insurance try.
Canada is one win from the medal podium and two from gold. Captain Jen Kish said when she saw Landry seal the win, she realized their Olympic dream was "getting more real."
"But we've got to execute and we've got to put the foot down on the throttle and keep moving forward," said Kish, a tattooed ball of muscle and energy under a blond shock of hair.
After thumping Japan 45-0 and Brazil 38-0, the Canadians got a reality check Sunday morning in the form of a Britain.
"We made a couple of forced errors, we definitely made too many unforced errors, turned the ball over too easily, dropped balls, we had good possession in the first half that we just didn't capitalize on," Tait said. "They're a good team, they turned mistakes into tries."
Had Canada won, it would have moved to the other side of the draw where New Zealand lurks.
Tait pointed to a case of nerves against France in the wake of the poor showing against Britain. "The girls were a bit anxious about that," he said.
Canada holds a 9-2 record all-time on the World Series against France, outscoring them 212-63. But the French beat them last time out, 14-12 in Langford, B.C., in a game that saw Canada squander a 12-0 lead in the last two minutes the Cup quarter-finals.
Sunday was a little payback on a far bigger stage.
The Canadians arrived in Rio as medal favourites after capturing gold at last summer's Pan American Games and finishing third on the world circuit this season. They were second in the World Series in 2014-15.
Women's rugby is making its Olympic debut, while men's rugby returns for the first time since 1924 when the U.S. won the 15-a-side tournament.
