LANGFORD, B.C. — Canada lost 12-5 to England in the Cup quarter-finals Sunday at the World Rugby's Women's Series, meaning the home side will finish out of the top four.
The Canadian women, second overall in the series standings, had finished third in the three previous stops on the circuit. Canada had also won six of the previous 11 meetings with No. 6 England.
Series-leader New Zealand, No. 4 France and No. 7 Russia joined England in the semifinals.
The Canadian women had high hopes of success after going 3-0 Saturday as the women's sevens competition came to Canada for the first time.
Canada started on the right foot Sunday after a fine solo run by Kayla Moleschi took it deep into England territory from the kickoff. But it failed to convert the advantage and trailed 7-0 at the half on a converted try by Amy Wilson-Hardy.
Bianca Farella's try in the corner early in the second half cut the lead to 7-5 but Emily Scarratt's late try put the game away for England.
"It was a huge disappointment for us," said Canadian coach John Tait. "We wanted to attack them with our speed and try to use the space that the field has. And we played their game pretty much from start to finish, just going one pass and out and taking it into contact, which is England's game.
"I think we had enough ball. It's just what we did with it wasn't good enough to get us into the semis."
Russia posted the first upset of the day under the sunshine at Westhills Stadium, defeating Australia 17-12 in their quarter-final. New Zealand beat Fiji 26-5 and France blanked the U.S. 17-0 in the other quarter-finals.
Canada defeated Russia, South Africa and the United States on Saturday. Australia and New Zealand also went unbeaten on Day 1.
Going into the semifinal, New Zealand had won 34 games straight with an overall record of 68-5-2 since the women's series began in 2012. The Kiwis' last defeat was to Australia in the final of the Sao Paulo Sevens on Feb. 22, 2014.
The Canadian stop was the fourth on the circuit, following events in Dubai, Sao Paulo and Atlanta. The series shifts to London on May 15-16 before wrapping up in Amsterdam May 22-23.
