The women only have two tournaments left, Hong Kong in a week’s time and Toulouse in May. Canada won’t make the top 4 for automatic Olympic qualification, they’re currently in 8th place, 32 points behind the final qualification spot currently held by Ireland (France automatically qualify as host). The USA are in 3rd spot and are almost certain to earn qualification for the Olympics.
It was a short day for the men. After the excitement of upsetting Australia on Day 1, it hasn’t gone well for them. What are the odds of defeating the 2022 Series winners and them meeting the #2 team in the 13th place semi-final?
It’s not looking good for the men’s 7s program right now. They slipped 10 points behind Uruguay in the race for the coveted 11th place that avoids the relegation tournament. They remain 8 points above Japan who occupy 15th place and get immediately relegated after the Toulouse tournament. There are 5 tournaments left to turn things around before London: LA, Vancouver, Hong Kong, Singapore and Toulouse. Canada will need to make the Cup round in one or two of the remaining tournaments.
A disappointing tournament overall for both the men and women in New Zealand, both teams dropped in the rankings.
The Cape Town 7s wrapped up with NZ winning the women’s tournament and Samoa winning the men’s tournament. The top four teams in the women’s standings are Australia, NZ, USA and France, for the men it’s Samoa, South Africa, NZ and USA. That’s important as the top four teams in the standings at the end of the season qualify for the 2024 Olympics in Paris. It doesn’t look like Canada will be in the running for one of those four spots but if USA qualify then Canada’s road in the regional tournament will be much easier.
The Canadian men dropped from 10th place to 12th place in the series standings with a 14th place finish in Dubai. Probably the most concerning for new coach Sean White is how they were humbled by the Spanish, 38-7, in the 13th place final match. Spain is ranked 13th in the series, Kenya 14th and Japan 15th. The 15th place team will be dropped at the end of the series, the 12th to 14th place teams will play a repechage tournament along with the winner of the Sevens Challenger Series to determine who stays in the series for 2023-24. Canada also lost to Kenya in Dubai.
The Canadian men finished 13th out of 24 teams, the women finished 6th out of 16 teams.
The Canadian men and women put in strong performances in their last matches of the tournament, however both ended up in losses.
The women had a fairly successful tournament to end the series, finishing in 6th place. They defeated rivals USA in the 5th place semi but lost to France in the 5th place final. The women finish the series in 7th place.
It was the best tournament for Canada this season as they earned 12 points for their 5th place finish. They lost to NZ in their first match of Day 2 but then defeated Fiji and USA, two tough opponents, to claim 5th place.