Canada Women Finish 8th in Dubai: New Format Trialled in Cape Town Next Week
Canada women lost both of their Day 2 matches, first to Australia in the quarter-finals and then to Japan in the 7th/8th playoff match. The loss to Australia was decisive 39-0, the loss to Japan was an improvement over their opening 40-5 pool loss to Japan, this time it was 24-22 with two late Canada tries closing the gap.
Next up is Cape Town where World Rugby is trialling a new format, there will be 4 pools of 3 teams with the top team from each pool going straight to the cup semi-finals. That might imply the 2nd place teams will go straight to a 5-8 semi-final and the 3rd place teams to a 9-12 semi-final but we’ll see if World Rugby clarifies that. Canada are in a pool with Australia and Brazil.
Canada in 8th place are now one spot out of the relegation zone, they sit with 6 points, Brazil 4, China 3, Spain 2 and Fiji 1. There are 5 more tournaments before the Grand Final in LA.
In the women’s tournament it was the usual Australia/NZ final for 1st and 2nd but in the men’s tournament Spain were the surprise team making the final before losing to Fiji.
from World Rugby
Australia and Fiji win HSBC SVNS in Dubai
International rugby sevens returned to thrill the huge crowds at The Sevens Stadium in Dubai as Australia women and Fiji men ran out winners to take an early lead in the HSBC SVNS standings. The next round takes place in Cape Town on 7-8 December
- Australia and Fiji were crowned Emirates Dubai 7s champions following a thrilling two days at the opening round of HSBC SVNS 2025
- Fiji beat Spain 19-5 to win men’s gold, as Spain reached their first ever SVNS final
- Australia overcame New Zealand 28-24 in a pulsating women’s final as Maddison Levi breaks tournament try scoring record
- Argentina and France won men’s and women’s bronze medals respectively
- All 24 teams move directly on to Cape Town for the second round of HSBC SVNS on 7-8 December
International rugby sevens returned to thrill the huge crowds at The Sevens Stadium in Dubai as Australia women and Fiji men ran out winners to take an early lead in the HSBC SVNS standings.
Fiji beat Spain 19-5 to lift the men’s trophy and claim their first SVNS tournament victory since Toulouse in 2022, and their first in Dubai since 2016. Argentina claimed the men’s bronze medals with a convincing 14-0 win over New Zealand.
Australia secured an incredible fifth successive women’s tournament victory in Dubai but they had to work hard for it in an epic final against Olympic champions New Zealand which finished 28-24. France overcame Great Britain 15-12 to take home the women’s bronze medals.
Olympic silver medallists Fiji looked back to their scintillating best and turned on the style to thrash Argentina 43-21 in the semi-final, having earlier overcome reigning Olympic champions France 19-17 in a tense quarter-final.
Fiji coach Osea Kolinisau was delighted his side had broken their long run without a title: “It’s been a long time coming,” he said. “ I’m so happy for the boys. I’m so happy that we’ve got the monkey off our back now.
Spain were impressive throughout the weekend and made history by reaching their first ever cup final thanks to a superb 19-14 victory over New Zealand in the semi-final, following a quarter-final win against Great Britain by the same scoreline earlier in the day.
Australia reached the women’s final courtesy of convincing wins over Great Britain 35-7 in the semi-final and 39-0 against Olympic silver medallists Canada in the quarter-final.
Australia’s new captain Isabella Nasser said: “I’m sort of lost for words,” she said. “I’m proud of the girls. We have such a tight-knit group – the young ones really showed up today and I’m sure they will for the rest of the season. The best is yet to come.
“The Black Ferns are always such a hard team [to play]. They always show up and we have such a good rivalry.”
New Zealand progressed to the final thanks to a 28-14 semi-final victory over France and seeing off Ireland 33-12 in the quarter-final.
Following a ground-breaking Olympic Games in Paris that saw more than 530,000 fans witness rugby sevens, the eagerly anticipated new season of HSBC SVNS began in great fashion with two days of non-stop dynamic action on the pitch and spectacular entertainment off it.
With 91 debutant players selected across the 12 men’s and 12 women’s squads there was an array of fresh talent on show alongside some of the biggest stars of the sport including Australia’s Maddison Levi who was awarded HSBC World Rugby Sevens Player of the Year last Sunday and broke the record for tries in a single SVNS tournament this weekend, crossing the line 15 times in six matches.
The event also saw Ireland’s Aimee Leigh Murphy Crowe joined an elite club by scoring her 200th SVNS Series try while Australia’s own try machine Faith Nathan claimed her 100th try on day one in Dubai.
All 24 teams move directly on to Cape Town for the second round of HSBC SVNS 2025 on 7-8 December. A new competition format will see the 12 teams in four pools of three teams with the pool winners advancing directly to semi-finals and a chance to reach the medal podium in Cape Town.
The pools for Cape Town were allocated based on rankings at the end of the Dubai tournament.
Men’s pool A: Fiji, Great Britain, Uruguay. Pool B Spain, Australia and Kenya. Pool C: Argentina, South Africa and Ireland. Pool D: New Zealand, France and USA.
Women’s pool A: Australia, Canada and Brazil. Pool B: New Zealand, Japan and China. Pool C: France, Ireland and Spain. Pool D: Great Britain, USA and Fiji.
HSBC SVNS 2025 features seven events across seven months in seven iconic global destinations. Six regular season rounds will be played in Dubai, Cape Town, Perth, Vancouver, Hong Kong and Singapore to decide the HSBC SVNS League Winners, before the HSBC SVNS World Championship in Los Angeles, which will see the top eight men’s and women’s teams compete at Dignity Health Sports Park which will host the LA 2028 Olympic rugby sevens.
Canada Survive 40-5 Defeat from Japan to Make Cup Quarter-Finals
Canada were truly awful in their first match against Japan and were thumped 40-5. Fortunately they rebounded in their second match against Brazil to win 38-12 before succumbing to NZ 38-10 in their final pool match.
That big win over Brazil was just enough to get them into the quarter-finals as the 8th placed team, unfortunately that pairs them up against #1 Australia on Day 2, kickoff 9:42pm PT.
Asia Hogan-Rochester was the star of the Canadian team on Day 1, scoring 3 tries against Brazil and adding another against NZ.
This season there are only 6 tournaments before the final promotion/repechage tournament in LA. Canada will want to avoid the 9-12 positions that have to fight to remain in the series next year. The teams who didn’t make the top 8 cut this tournament were China, Fiji, Spain and Brazil.
Some of the new players brought into the series had a difficult time adapting to the intensity at this level both physically and mentally. They’ll see more game time on Day 2 and next week in Cape Town before the team regroups for the January tournament in Perth.
On the women’s side only NZ and Australia were undefeated in pool play, in the men’s tournament Fiji and Argentina went undefeated.
from World Rugby
POOL C: New Zealand make light work of Olympic rivals
Relaxed New Zealand were too strong for Canada in their final Pool C match, a rerun of the 2024 Paris Olympic Games final between two much-changed sides. Kelsey Teneti scored twice as they won 38-10 to finish the group phase with a perfect three from three.
Earlier, Sarah Hirini, who had missed all of last season after picking up an ACL injury in Dubai last December, and who had fractured her cheekbone en route to hard-won Olympic gold in Paris, scored on her long-awaited HSBC SVNS return as New Zealand eased past Brazil 33-5 in their opening match.
The new-look Olympic champions were made to work hard in their second match, before pulling away from Japan to win 36-12.
Earlier, Japan’s Chiaki Saegusa scored two as they opened the tournament with a high-energy 40-5 win over Olympic silver-medallists Canada – before finishing their day on the wrong end of a 17-14 scoreline against Brazil.
That shock loss to Japan woke up a Canada squad featuring only four of their Olympic Games stars. Asia Hogan-Rochester ran in a hat-trick as they beat Brazil 38-12 – but they faced a nervy wait for confirmation that they had made the quarter-finals.
Canada Women’s Team Announced for Dubai 7s: Only 4 Players from Olympic Silver Medal Squad
The World Rugby 7s Series kicks off this coming weekend in Dubai, minus the Canada men, the focus will be on the women’s team. There are a lot of new players under a new coach so it will be interesting to see how the team performs. They start off with relatively easy matches against Japan and Brazil before taking on New Zealand.
Only four players from the Olympic squad are travelling to Dubai, Piper Logan, Shalaya Valenzuela, Carissa Norsten and Asia Hogan-Rochester. Missing are Caroline Crossley, Charity Williams, Olivia Apps, Alysha Corrigan, Chloe Daniels, Krissy Scurfield, Florence Symonds, Fancy Bermudez, Keyara Wardley. Some of the players, such as Krissy Scurfield and Fancy Bermudez, are competing in the England Premiership in XVs.
Only 6 players selected are capped on the Sevens Series, Breanne Nicholas is the veteran with 174 series matches under her belt, followed by Pam Buisa (73), Piper Logan (54), Asia Hogan-Rochester (51), Shalaya Valenzuela (47), Carissa Norsten (34).
Two of the newcomers were on the UBC university championship XVs team, Savannah Bauder and Adia Pye. Maya Addai was on the UVic team that won Silver at the tournament. Carmen Izyk and Mahalia Robinson were part of the Canada team at the FISU World University tournament that won silver. Monique Coffey, from Manitoba, recently played for the PR7s All Star team against Canada and USA, obviously impressing the Canada coach. Shoshanah Seumanutafa was the starting outside centre for the women’s XVs team at the recent WXV tournament. Camille Arvin-Bérod was the openside flanker for the Canada U20 XVs team that won the Trans-Atlantic Quad Series in Wales this year.
Kickoff is 9pm Friday evening on the west coast. You can try watching on RugbyPass.tv, currently they’re showing Day 1 and Day 2 streaming for “Pitch 2” on the schedule.
CANADA’S WOMEN’S SEVENS TEAM ROSTER
4. Breanne Nicholas (Blenheim, ON) – Kent Havoc RFC
8. Carmen Izyk (High River, AB) – Rugby Club Toulon Provence Méditerranée
11. Piper Logan (Calgary, AB) – Calgary Hornets / University of British Columbia
17. Camille Arvin-Bérod (Saint-Denis-Sur-Richelieu, QC) – Montreal Irish / Laval University / Lons Section Paloise
19. Carissa Norsten (Waldheim, SK) – Kirin RFC / University of Victoria
20. Maya Addai (Ottawa, ON) – Westshore RFC / University of Victoria
21. Adia Pye (Victoria, BC) – Castaway Wanderers
23. Shalaya Valenzuela (Abbotsford, BC) – Abbotsford RFC
24. Asia Hogan-Rochester (Toronto, ON) – Toronto Nomads / Westshore RFC
25. Shoshanah Seumanutafa (White Rock, BC) – Counties Manukau
26. Savannah Bauder (North Vancouver, BC) – University of British Columbia
29. Mahalia Robinson (Fulford, QC) – Town of Mount Royal RFC
55. Monique Coffey (Dauphin, MB) – Scion Sirens
99. Pamphinette Buisa (Gatineau, QC) – Ottawa Irish
from Rugby Canada
Beginning her first season as the Head Coach of Canada’s Women’s Sevens Team, Jocelyn Barrieau has selected Canada’s roster for the kick-off of the 2025 HSBC SVNS Series in Dubai, UAE starting on November 30.
The Sevens Stadium Dubai is host to the first stop of the 2025 HSBC SVNS Series, the first of 7 tournaments featuring the top 12 women’s and 12 men’s sevens teams in the world.
Four players who won a silver medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics including Piper Logan, Carissa Norsten, Asia Hogan-Rochester and Shalaya Valenzuela join Canada’s roster to begin the 2025 SVNS Series campaign. Shoshanah Seumanutafa, Pamphinette Buisa and Hogan-Rochester, who recently earned her first 15s cap for Canada in September against France, all saw their last international game action against England while representing Canada’s women’s 15s team at the WXV 1 tournament hosted in Vancouver earlier this fall.
Savannah Bauder, Adia Pye and Valenzuela join the Canadian sevens squad fresh off winning a gold medal at the U SPORTS National Rugby Championships with the UBC Thunderbirds earlier this month. Maya Addai from the University of Victoria Vikes, who earned a silver medal at the national championships, has also been selected.
“Players and staff are eager and excited to begin the 2025 season next weekend in Dubai,” said Barrieau. “The roster brings a mix of players with considerable experience on the series and a group of incredibly talented, up and coming players who could make their debut with Canada’s sevens team. We are proud of our performance at the Paris Olympics, but to stay near the top, we need to solidify our foundations and keep the program successful over the next four years leading to the 2028 Olympic games.”
DUBAI POOL PLAY SCHEDULE
Saturday November 30
Canada’s Women’s Sevens Team vs Japan
9:00 p.m. PT (Friday November 29) / 12:00 a.m. ET / 9:00 a.m. local time
Canada’s Women’s Sevens Team vs Brazil
11:15 p.m. PT (Friday November 29) / 2:15 a.m. ET / 11:15 a.m. local time
Canada’s Women’s Sevens Team vs New Zealand
4:07 a.m. PT / 7:07 a.m. ET / 4:07 p.m. local time
Following the Dubai tournament, the team will travel to South Africa for Cape Town SVNS (December 7-8, 2024). The first tournament of the new year will take place in Perth over January 24-26, 2025. Catch both Canada’s Men’s and Women’s Teams in action on home soil at HSBC Vancouver Sevens (February 21-23, 2024) at BC Place. Buy tickets now at vansevens.com.
MORE INFO
For the most up to date information on the HSBC SVNS Series and live coverage, including details on the event format, the schedule and the latest news, visit the official website: https://www.svns.com/en