Paul John’s men entered the tournament on the back of an encouraging campaign in the Australian leg a week earlier where they made the quarter-finals of the main draw.
However a week can prove a long time in Sevens and so it proved in Hong Kong. Wales suffered a shock defeat to crowd favourites Hong Kong in pool play before a sound defeat to England dropped Wales to third place in the pool.
Dumped into the Bowl, Wales looked on course for their third title of the series when they defeated Argentina 17-12 in the quarter-final with second half tries by Craig Hill, Ifan Evans and Nicky Thomas earning a semi-final showdown against Scotland.
A comfortable 26-7 victory with tries by Aaron Brawell, Alex Cuthbert, Lee Rees and Rhys Webb took Wales into the Bowl final and within sight of further silverware. However they were on the receiving end of another shock with Canada recording a boilover.
Wales never got out of first gear as Thyssen de Goede, Chauncey O’Toole, Ciaran Hearn and Philip Mack raced over for tries. With Mack adding 10 points with his boot, Canada were in command at halftime with 28-0 lead.
Rhys Shellard, Lee Rees and Ifan Evans hit back in the second half for Wales but Conor Trainor’s touchdown sealed the Canadians a famous victory.
Wales Sevens squad: Lee Rees (Scarlets), Chris Morgan (Aberavon), Lloyd Williams (Blues), Rhys Jones (Cornish Pirates), Ifan Evans (Llandovery), Craig Hill (Newport), Rhys Shellard (Cardiff), Darren Daniel (Scarlets), Justin Tipuric (Ospreys), Jevon Groves (Cross Keys), Alex Cuthbert (UWIC), Aaron Bramwell (Pontypridd).
