A third of the way through the qualifying process, the Langford-based Canadian women’s rugby sevens team appears well positioned for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

Canada has back-to-back podium finishes in the first two of six 2018-19 World Series tournaments, out of which the top-four teams at the end of the season will qualify for the Tokyo Summer Games.

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The Canadians followed up their bronze medal from the USA Sevens in Denver with silver Friday at the Dubai Sevens following a 26-14 loss to New Zealand in the championship game.

Canada advanced to the final with a 15-10 victory over Australia in the semifinals with Caroline Crossley of Victoria tearing off a near field-length run before passing off to Britt Benn for an opening try that got Canada’s motors revving. The Aussies had it at 10-10 before Bianca Farella brought victory to Canada with a try with only seconds remaining on the clock. Also scoring a try for Canada was captain Ghislaine Landry, who this year became the first player in World Series history to reach the career 1,000 points plateau.

“Australia is one of the top teams in the world, and we [were] looking to go all the way, and so you know you’re going to have to play those girls at some point in the day,” said Landry.

Farella, meanwhile, scored two tries in the 24-7 quarter-final victory over Ireland en route to the Montrealer’s leading seven tries in the tournament.

Canada is second in the season standings with 34 points behind leading New Zealand’s 40. The U.S. is third at 32, Australia fourth at 28 and France fifth at 22. Rounding out the top-10 are Russia on 20 points, Ireland and England on 16 each, Spain on seven and China on six.

“We know this is the first qualifying period for 2020 but we’re focused on the day-to-day process,” said Canadian player Charity Williams.

Canadian teammate Kayla Moleschi of Williams Lake concurred: “We all realize what the sweep of the year is about, but we take each game as it comes.”

The Canadian players will return to Westhills Stadium in Langford to train for the next World Series tournament Feb. 1-3 in Sydney, Australia. That will be followed by the Japan Sevens from April 20-21 in Kitakyushu, Canada Sevens from May 11-12 at Westhills Stadium and Paris Sevens from June 7-9.

Meanwhile, the Canadian men went 1-2 in pool play Friday in the Dubai Sevens and will meet Zimbabwe on the consolation side today. Head coach Damian McGrath’s Langford-based crew lost 26-12 to England and 31-19 to France before beating Japan 27-7. Connor Braid and Luke McCloskey, both of Victoria, made an impact in the loss to the Aussies with Oak Bay High-grad Braid scoring two tries and SMUS-grad McCloskey one try. Cowichan High-grad Pat Kay of Duncan scored a try in the victory over Japan. Canada is captained by former University of Victoria Vikes great Nathan Hirayama.

Dubai is the opening tournament of the men’s World Series, out of which the top-four finishers will also advance to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. It’s a 10-even series, which includes the Canada Sevens from March 9-10 at B.C. Place.