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As Canadian coach Damian McGrath pointed out to me on Twitter on Sunday morning, his squad have missed out on cup quarter-finals qualification four times this season because of losses by one try. For the outside observer, that’s a glass half-full or half-empty scenario.The optimist would look at Canada’s narrow-margin results and say, “Gosh, they’re so close, they’re almost there.”

The pessimist would look at this same scenario and say, “They keep making mistakes, looks like they’re just a mediocre bunch.”

The loss to Samoa was followed by a consolation playoff loss to Scotland, a team the Canadians on talent really should be beating. Was it a hangover from the earlier emotional letdown of losing to Samoa? Perhaps.

Sunday say the Canadians rebound by knocking off a plucky but disappointing French squad and then outlasting a greatly underpowered Welsh squad in the 13th-place final.

“Nice to get a couple wins, but was tough to let go of that Samoa game,” Canada’s Harry Jones said flatly after the tournament. “Small margins.”

The Samoans, on the other hand, marched all the way to the final, where they lost to the Americans, who won their first title of the season — they’d played and lost in all four previous finals on the 2018-19 HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series season — and their second straight edition of the USA Sevens.

This weekend the Canadians will be aiming for their first quarter-finals’ appearance on home soil. To get there, they’ll have to get through the Samoans: the two teams have drawn into the same pool for a second consecutive weekend.