New Zealand celebrated with two renditions of the Haka after winning all six of its games at the inaugural HSBC Canada Sevens, its third title in six stops on the world circuit this season.

Canada won five of six games and finished ninth Sunday, hoisting the consolation Bowl trophy instead of the celebrated Cup. Its only blemish was Saturday's loss to Wales on a try scored with no time remaining.

Rugby sevens can be a cruel game.

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The home side made its mark at B.C. Place Stadium, refusing to quit in a series of thrilling last-ditch wins. But ironically, Canada exits the tournament in 13th spot in the overall standings, one rung below where it started the weekend.

"I can't criticize our performances," Canadian coach Liam Middleton said. "We were very consistent. The Brazil game we were a little bit flatter [Sunday] morning, but we had thrown everything into [Saturday]. Mentally, physically, emotionally, we threw everything into it and got a disappointment at not making the Cup [quarter-finals].

"But you win five of six games in any World Series tournament, it's an exceptional achievement."

New Zealand defeated South Africa 19-14 in the Cup final, adding to the titles it won earlier this season in Wellington and Sydney.

Delighted organizers said 60,418 fans took in the tournament over two days. Spectators got their money's worth with 45 games over the weekend. There were 942 points scored Saturday alone.

Sunday produced another festive crowd, with many in costume.

After edging France 19-17 on a John Moonlight try and Nathan Hirayama conversion with no time remaining in the Bowl final, the Canadians celebrated in front of those fans.

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"There may not have been as many people here as there are maybe some other places, but 30,000 people cheering for Canada, that's something special that you don't get every often in your life," Canada's Conor Trainor said.

Mike Fuailefau wore a lei when he met reporters. Adam Zaruba was cloaked in a Canadian flag. Hirayama had a Maple Leaf knotted around his neck.

Harry Jones wore a pair of black eyes, thanks to a busted beak that was broken the previous day.

Canada's opening game Saturday, a 26-19 loss to Wales, proved to be its undoing.

The Canadians bounced back to upset Australia 14-12, which left them needing to beat Russia by 30 points in their final pool match to qualify for the Cup quarter-finals. Canada beat Russia, but the 29-12 score was not enough to avoid the consolation bracket.

Hirayama led the Canadian attack with five tries Sunday on a day that also saw 19-0 and 17-7 wins over Brazil and England, respectively. He finished tied for fourth in tournament scoring with six tries.

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Rubbing salt in the wound, Wales finished seventh and moved past Canada into 12th spot in the overall standings.

And Samoa, which will challenge Canada in a last-ditch Olympic qualifying tournament in June, showed its teeth by finishing fifth in Vancouver.

Down 17-12 in the Bowl final, the Canadians profited when 18-year-old French player Théo Millet elected to keep playing rather than kick the ball into touch with no time remaining to end the game. The French were subsequently penalized near their goal line and Canada scored.

"It's his first tournament," veteran French player Julien Candelon said of his young teammate. "We all make some errors in our career. It's his first – it's not a problem. He is here to learn."

The same thing happened against Chile at the Pan American Games, allowing Canada back into the game – and keeping it on course for the gold medal.

Coming into the home tournament, Canada had finished 13th, 11th, 11th, ninth and 14th on the five previous stops on the circuit. It has now missed out on the Cup quarter-finals twice on tiebreakers.

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Middleton hopes the five-win performance will kick-start Canada the rest of the season and at the Olympic qualifier.

New Zealand, with a seemingly endless supply of strike runners on its roster, dispatched Australia 28-19 to reach the Cup final. Fiji ran out of comebacks in a 31-19 loss to South Africa in the other semi-final, much to the disappointment of a sizable number of Fiji supporters at B.C. Place stadium.

Australia defeated Fiji 19-12 to finish third. Samoa beat the United States 31-19 to win the Plate final and finish fifth while Russia downed Portugal 17-10 to take the Shield final and finish 13th.

Fiji remains atop the season standings with 106 points but the race is tightening with South Africa second (105 points) and New Zealand third (104).

Fiji was on the tournament's mind because of last month's Cyclone Winston, a category 5 storm which was Fiji's worst-recorded cyclone. It left more than 40 dead in its wake. Two dollars from the sale of every tournament program went to Fiji cyclone relief efforts, with the B.C. government adding $100,000 of its own.

The Canadian team resumes play on the World Series next month in Hong Kong.