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Because they made the cup quarterfinals in Las Vegas, they were automatically in the first or second band of teams; their loss to Fiji in the quarters put them in the second band of teams.

They’ve landed with New Zealand, who finished fourth in the desert, losing to the host USA in the 3rd place match, Scotland lost to Samoa in the consolation trophy semi finals, while the Russians crashed and burned and finished tied for 15th place.

Photo by DAVID BECKER / AFP/Getty Images

New Zealand – 7:20 p.m. Saturday, final pool match

The All Blacks are fourth overall after five tournaments, a fair representation of their form. They’ve not made a final yet this season but have two third-place finishes on the year. It’s a season of transition for the All Blacks, who let long time coach Sir Gordon Tietjens go after crashing and burning at the Rio Olympics (he’s now coaching Samoa). They’re still a powerful group of rugby players, but lack a true out and out finisher with speed to burn.

NZ leads the all-time series 38-2-1. The three non-losses have come over the last two years: both Canadian wins happened in 2015, in Tokyo and Cape Town, and the draw was just last December, again in Cape Town. Once beating the mighty All Blacks seemed an impossible dream, but no more.

Saturday squad news: No Tim Mikkelson, who has the flu.They’ll miss his attacking abilities. Captain Scott Curry is back, though, having recovered from a concussion.

Photo by DAVID BECKER / AFP/Getty Images

Canada

The Canadians did well on the weekend, but will surely be disappointed to come away winless on day two. They battled hard in their pool game against the super-elite South Africans, who won the tournament, their fourth win this season. The Canadians faced Fiji in the quarterfinals and again put on a good showing but the Fijians showed why they’re the defending gold medallist, punishing the slightest mistake by Canada. Fiji lost in the final to South Africa; that’s a touch of credit for the Canadians, being able to say they lost to both of the Las Vegas finalists.