GLASGOW, Scotland — South Africa and Fiji have become the first rugby sevens teams to qualify for the 2016 Olympics, by virtue of reaching the Cup quarter-finals at the Glasgow Sevens on Saturday.
The Blitzboks and Fijians came into the competition, the penultimate stop on the nine-event HSBC World Series circuit, 1-2 in the overall standings.
The top four in the table at the end of the season qualify automatically for the 2016 Olympics, which marks the debut of the rugby sevens at the Games. The World Series wraps up next weekend in London.
New Zealand started the day third in the standings, ahead of England and Australia.
Canada advanced to the Cup quarter-finals for the second straight tournament, opening with a bang by thumping the U.S. 40-0.
Liam Middleton's team fell 21-12 to Argentina before beating Japan 38-0 to win its group and advance to the final eight of the Cup competition.
The Americans rallied to beat Japan and Argentina to also advance. Canada and the U.S. finished with seven points but the Canadians took top spot in the group by virtue of beating the Americans.
The win over the U.S. was sweet for the Canadians, who had lost their three previous meetings with the Americans this season. The U.S. came into Glasgow ranked sixth in the standings while Canada was 11th.
That means Canada and the U.S. will likely face off in a regional Olympic qualifier in June.
Mike Fuailefua, Ciaran Hearn, Conor Trainor, Sean White, Adam Zaruba and Liam Underwood scored tries against the Americans while Harry Jones kicked five conversions.
Captain John Moonlight and White scored against Argentina with Jones adding a conversion.
Moonlight opened the Japan game with a bruising try, running over several smaller Japanese players. Sean Trainor and Sean Duke scored two tries while Underwood added a single for Canada. Jones kicked four conversions.
It could have been more but Zaruba, on a breakaway, dropped the ball before getting to the goal-line. Canada's Pat Kay was sent to the sin-bin in the dying seconds.
The Canadians made history in Glasgow last year when they made a Series final for the first time. They lost to New Zealand 54-7 in the championship game.
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