KAZAN, July 17 (R-Sport) - Canada came away with the first-ever medal handed out in rugby sevens at the World University Games in Russia Wednesday as its women's team crushed Britain 36-0 to win bronze.
The 27th Universiade, which winds up later Wednesday, is the first international sporting competition to have included rugby sevens before the sport is included in the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.
Six different Canadians scored tries - three in each half - and fly-half Brianna Miller, of Pointe-Claire, Quebec, made three conversion goals under a blazing midday sun at Kazan's Tulpar Stadium.
Chelsea Guthrie, a scrum-half from Edmonton, Alberta, capped the end of the first half with a long streak down the right wing, flinging herself over the line through a crowd of three opposing jerseys to give Canada a 19-0 lead.
"It's pretty cool," Canadian coach Matt Parrish said of winning the Universiade's first rugby sevens medal. "That was our goal coming here. We had a good team but you never know who you're going to come up against. It's a bit of a relief, to get to this game and actually win it."
Canada won two and lost two in the preliminaries but earned a decisive quarterfinal victory over the Chinese, setting up a semifinal against a Russian squad featuring six players from its senior team. The Canucks lost that game 31-5.
Britain, which had been undefeated in their first five games until losing 14-5 to Italy in the semifinals, were outmatched by the Canadians and failed to put their opponents under sustained pressure.
"It's been an amazing experience for the girls," Britain coach Susie Appleby told R-Sport. "It's very disappointing to not come away with a medal but really pleasing to be top dog in our group and have beaten some international sides on the way. The girls will learn from this and we'll push on from this as rugby players."
Britain won the FISU rugby sevens World University Championship in France last year.
