West Vancouver’s Harry Jones scored a last-second try to earn Canada’s national men’s rugby sevens team a thrilling victory over Argentina in the gold medal match at the Pan Am Games Sunday in Toronto.
Jones set off a wild celebration amongst the 20,000 fans at Exhibition Stadium after collecting a clever chip from Lower Mainland buddy Nathan Hirayama on Argentina’s five-metre line, dragging two tacklers with him over the try line and touching down the winning points with virtually no time left to play. The try clinched gold for Canada in a 22-19 win.
Jones’ late-match heroics gave the Canadian team its third consecutive comeback victory in one day following a 17-12 sudden death extra-time win over Chile and a 26-19 semifinal win over the United States in which the Canadians broke a 19-19 tie with almost no time left on the clock.
“We didn't make any of our games easy, but we wanted to be inspirational, and I think we accomplished that,” said team captain John Moonlight in a Rugby Canada release. “That final play of the gold medal match — that last-ditch effort by everyone — was exactly what we needed. Our team plays with a lot of heart, and we will never give up on any match. Matches like today’s show that anything is possible in rugby sevens.”
The sport of rugby sevens will debut at the Olymnpic Games next year in Rio.
