Canada Women Win Silver – Canada Men Win Bronze at PanAm Games
Canada’s men’s team reversed an earlier loss to USA in the pool round to win the Bronze medal match 19-17. Argentina were the class of the tournament and went undefeated winning Gold. Chile were the surprising Silver medal winner as they defeated USA in the semi-finals. The USA men sent a development side that only had 2 players from their team that won the Olympic qualifier in August.
Canada’s women’s team lost to USA in the Gold medal match 19-12. Piper Logan was outstanding and scored both tries for Canada. The USA women sent their senior team to the tournament. Canada will next be in action at the Dubai 7s in December.
from Rugby Canada
Canada’s sevens teams both concluded the Santiago 2023 Pan American Games with battles against the United States for medals, with Canada’s Men’s Sevens Team beating the United States to win bronze and Canada’s Women’s Sevens Team losing to the United States to take silver.
The second day of competition at Estadio Municipal de la Pintana started with Canada’s Women’s Sevens Team playing Colombia in the semi-finals, with five different try scorers contributing to Canada’s 45-14 win. Debutant Carissa Norsten opened scoring, with Alysha Corrigan and Piper Logan contributing two tries each. Tries and conversions from Asia Hogan-Rochester and Breanne Nicholas, as well as a conversion from Charity Williams, helped Canada book their ticket to the gold medal match.
Canada’s Men’s Sevens Team met Argentina in the semi-finals. Los Pumas held a 7-0 lead at half-time, scoring early in the second to increase their lead to 14-0. Alex Russell entered the game shortly after, making an impact and getting Canada on the board, his try converted by Lockie Kratz. However, a Canadian yellow card in the final minutes gave Argentina an opportunity to go on the offence once again. Argentina’s 21-7 win sent Canada to the bronze medal final, where they met the United States for the second time this tournament.
“We knew we were off the mark on day one, but we talked about getting back to the basics, getting back to our urgency and communication and we had a performance we can be proud of today,” Head Coach Sean White said of the bronze medal match. “We knew [against Argentina] defensively we were hitting the right mark, on attack we needed to correct a few errors, and we put it all together for the final game when we needed to.”
David Richard was the first to score against the United States, striking off the scrum. Converted by Kratz, Canada took a 7-0 lead just over three minutes in. The United States didn’t let up, scoring at the end of the first half, but unable to convert, with Canada maintaining their lead 7-5 at half-time.
A string of offloads led to a try from Jake Thiel, with Kratz’s conversion bouncing off the post, to put Canada at 12-5. The United States responded a minute later, tying the game.
Russell once again immediately made an impact upon coming off the bench in the second half, with a long sprint down the field to re-establish Canada’s lead with his second try of the day. Kratz added two points with the conversion. The United States scored one last try in the final minute of play, but were unable to kick a clean conversion, with Canada taking the win and the bronze medal by a final score of 19-17.
“All the guys fought really hard. We knew it would be a tight, hard-fought game,” said Kal Sager. “We built over the tournament. Argentina’s a great team, we knew that going in. We played a good defensive game against them and that gave us the confidence to come out here [against the USA], connect as a group and put it all on the line.”
Canada’s Women’s Sevens Team met the United States in their final match as well, playing the Americans for gold for the third Pan American Games in a row. Logan opened scoring off a maul to go up 5-0. With almost three minutes of extra time at the end of the first half, the United States converted a try to steal the lead.
Logan scored her second of the game in the second half, converted by Williams, to help Canada battle back, but two USA tries in the final two minutes gave the United States a 19-12 win, with Canada taking the silver medal.
“It wasn’t the outcome that we desired, but I thought that the performance throughout the weekend was excellent,” said Head Coach Jack Hanratty. “We had a lot of control and possession throughout the entire game, but a score [against] in the last play of the second half and last play of the first half, that was 12 points of the 19 that we conceded. We’re disappointed, but we’re a group that’s building for Paris and with that we want to be in these gold medal games. It’s exactly the kind of preparation that we want, just not the outcome. [Overall] really happy with the group and excited to see where we can go next.”
Canada’s sevens teams return to action in one month for Dubai SVNS. The 2024 HSBC SVNS kicks off December 2-3, the first of eight stops between December and May, with both teams competing on home soil in front of Canadian fans at Vancouver SVNS over February 23-25.
Canada Women 3-0 on Day 1 – Men Finish 2-1
The Canadian women went 3-0 on Day 1 cruising past Mexico and Chile but narrowly defeated Brazil. The men defeated Mexico and Chile but lost to the USA.
The women will play Colombia in the semi-finals tomorrow, the USA face Brazil. It was always likely the women’s final would come down to a Canada v USA match.
The men come second in their pool and will likely face Argentina in the semis. The USA will likely face Chile.
Canada Men
Canada 5 – USA 19
Scorers: Matt Percillier (1T)
Canada 42 – Mexico 7
Scorers: Matt Percillier (1T), Lockie Kratz (2T, 6C), David Richard (2T), Jake Thiel (1T)
Canada 22 – Brazil 12
Scorers: David Richard (3T), Ethan Hager (1T), Lockie Kratz (1C)
Canada Women
Canada 29 – Brazil 21
Scorers: Carissa Norsten (1T), Piper Logan (1T), Charity Williams (2T), Lucie Romeo (1T), Asia Hogan-Rochester (2C)
Canada 69 – Mexico 0
Scorers: Carissa Norsten (1T), Asia Hogan-Rochester (2T, 5C), Piper Logan (2T), Charity Williams (2T, 1C), Lucie Romeo (2T), Breanne Nicholas (1T, 1C), Shalaya Valenzuela (1T)
Canada 41 – Chile 0
Scorers: Piper Logan (2T), Olivia de Couvreur (1T), Charity Williams (1T), Chloe Daniels (1T), Lucie Romeo (1T), Shalaya Valenzuela (1T), Asia Hogan-Rochester (3C)
Canada Name Teams for PanAm 7s – November 3-4 in Santiago
The PanAm 7s in Santiago, Chile kicks off the 7s season for the men and women. There are 8 teams in each competition.
The women will have to contend with USA in their tournament which includes USA, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Jamaica, Mexico, Paraguay. Based on current form Canada are a solid Silver with the possibility of upsetting USA for Gold. The men have more competition, they’re in with Argentina, USA, Uruguay, Chile, Brazil, Jamaica, Mexico. Argentina and USA will be favourites on current form with Canada battling Uruguay and Chile for Bronze. Canada could work their way into a Gold or Silver position with upsets over Argentina and/or USA.
The women’s team sees the return of a couple of players from the Tait era, Charity Williams and Caroline Crossley. A few regular starters are off with the XVs team in NZ including Krissy Scurfield, Olivia Apps and Fancy Bermudez.
On the men’s side Jake Thiel is back, he was missing in the Olympic Qualifier. Josiah Morra, Cooper Coats and Matt Oworu are out. Matt Percillier returns as does Ethan Hager. One player who was missing from both the Olympic Qualifier and the PanAm is Max Stewart. When he came on the scene with the Pride in XVs he looked like he could be a long term option at #10 for the national team. He was switched to 7s and excelled there as well. He’s apparently carrying a bit of a recurring injury and they’re giving him plenty of rest but we hope to see him out for 7s this season and given a shot with the XVs squad as well.
from Rugby Canada
Rugby Canada and the Canadian Olympic Committee have announced Canada’s rugby sevens teams nominated to compete at the Santiago 2023 Pan American Games.
The Team Canada rugby sevens teams for the Santiago 2023 Pan American Games are:
Women’s Team
1. Olivia De Couvreur (Ottawa, Ont.) – Ottawa Irish
4. Breanne Nicholas (Blenheim, Ont.) – Kent Havoc RFC
5. Julia Greenshields (Sarnia, Ont.) – Sarnia Saints
6. Charity Williams (Toronto, Ont.) – Markham Irish
11. Piper Logan (Calgary, Alta.) – Calgary Hornets / University of British Columbia
14. Eden Kilgour (Barrie, Ont.) – Aurora Barbarians
16. Alysha Corrigan (Charlottetown, P.E.I.) – CRFC
19. Carissa Norsten (Waldheim, Sask.) – Kirin RFC / University of Victoria
23. Shalaya Valenzuela (Abbotsford, B.C.) – Abbotsford RFC
24. Asia Hogan-Rochester (Toronto, Ont.) – Toronto Nomads RFC
35. Caroline Crossley (Victoria, B.C.) – Castaways Wanderers
77. Chloe Daniels (Sutton, Ont.) – Aurora Barbarians / Queen’s University
Men’s Team
2. Jake Thiel (Victoria, B.C.) – James Bay AA
4. Phil Berna (Vancouver, B.C.) – Vancouver Rowing Club
7. Brock Webster (Uxbridge, Ont.) – Oshawa Vikings RFC
11. Elias Ergas (Vancouver, B.C.) – University of British Columbia
12. David Richard (Milton, Ont.) – Mississauga Blues RFC
15. Ethan Hager (Brantford, Ont.) – Brantford Harlequins Rugby Club
23. Thomas Isherwood (Okotoks, Alta.) – Foothills Lions RFC
33. Kal Sager (Peterborough, Ont.) – Peterborough Pagans / Trent University
44. Lockie Kratz (Victoria, B.C.) – Castaway Wanderers / NOLA Gold
64. Elias Hancock (Ottawa, Ont.) – Bytown Blues
88. Matt Percillier (Victoria, B.C.) – University of British Columbia
99. Jack Carson (Victoria, B.C.) – University of British Columbia
Santiago 2023 will mark the start of a new season for Canada’s sevens teams, having last competed at Rugby Americas North (RAN) Sevens in Langford, B.C in August. At that event, Canada’s Women’s Sevens Team punched their ticket to the Paris 2024 Olympic Games with a dominant gold medal performance, while the men’s team placed second, advancing them to the Final Olympic Repechage Tournament – the last chance qualifier for Paris 2024.
Caroline Crossley, Olivia De Couvreur, Asia Hogan-Rochester and Breanne Nicholas return to defend Canada’s women’s rugby sevens title at the Pan Am Games, while Phil Berna looks to lead his team back to the Pan Am Games podium following a silver medal in 2019.
“I was with the team when we won the last Pan Am Games in Lima in 2019, and I am really looking forward to attending another Pan Am Games in Chile this time,” said Nicholas. “This tournament will be some of our teammates’ first senior international multi-sport games, which I’m excited about, and they are also excited about. We will be taking our excitement from qualifying for the Olympics at the end of summer to these Pan Am Games, and this tournament will be a great opportunity for us to build leading up to this year’s SVNS Series and Olympics.”
Nicholas and Berna are two of five Olympians who will compete in Santiago, along with Tokyo 2020 Olympians Julia Greenshields, Charity Williams and Jake Thiel.
“I’m excited to get down to Santiago, Chile for the Pan Am Games. It’s my second Pan Ams – we came second in Lima back in 2019 so it would be good to do one better this year. Coming off a bit of a low this summer, it will be good to get some positive momentum going into HSBC SVNS and hopefully that carries us well into the Olympic qualifiers at the end of the season,” said Berna. “We’ve been building for a few years now, and this team has a lot of the same returning players, so it’s getting those guys more game time. We have a couple new faces in this Pan Ams mix and getting more experience is going to be huge for them. It’s a long season with a big goal at the end, so we need a lot of depth.”
Crossley returns to competition with Canada’s Women’s Sevens Team for the first time since 2019, with Williams also back in action following long-term injury recovery. Thiel and Matt Percillier both return for the first time since the 2023 Canada Sevens in March.
Set to make her debut with Canada’s Women’s Sevens Team is Carissa Norsten, a Maple Leaf Academy player and last year’s U SPORTS Rookie of the Year who shone this past summer with Canada’s U20 Women’s Rugby Team.
Ethan Hager will compete in just his second tournament with Canada’s Men’s Sevens Team, having debuted at RAN Sevens in August where he put on an impressive performance and scored five tries.
“This is a great opportunity for us to use some of the depth that we created over the last year and the World Rugby Sevens Series. We had a really important summer getting the opportunity to play in our summer series against Hong Kong, Australia and Japan, and we are coming off the back of qualifying for the Olympics at RAN Sevens,” said Jack Hanratty, coach of Canada’s Women’s Sevens Team. “Only 12 players got to play at RAN Sevens, but it was a much bigger process involving a group of up to 32 senior players. Now, this is the 12 that we’re excited to have go and experience a multi-sport Games. Some have been to an Olympics before in our squad, but there’s a lot of players here who will get their first opportunity for a multi-sport Games, which is a really important experience as we get closer to the Olympics.”
“Pan Ams are an incredible multi-sport event. The inclusive and multicultural atmosphere of the Pan Am Athletes Village is one our athletes and staff will never forget,” said Sean White, coach of Canada’s Men’s Sevens Team and a member of Team Canada’s 2011 and 2015 Pan Am Games gold medal-winning teams. “Despite coming off a tough summer, we’re now given an opportunity to see how we rebound as a group. We will have players in different roles for this tournament, but what remains is a desire to narrow in and gain confidence in a style of play that represents the players on the field. This tournament will provide many of the same challenges and obstacles we will see on the SVNS Series and ultimately puts us one step closer to our end goal in July.”
Men’s rugby sevens joined the Pan American Games program at Guadalajara 2011, while the women’s game made its debut at Toronto 2015. The Canadian men’s team won gold at both Guadalajara 2011 and Toronto 2015, followed by silver at Lima 2019. The Canadian women’s team won gold at both Toronto 2015 and Lima 2019.
Rugby sevens will take place November 3 to 4 (Days 14 to 15) at the Estadio Municipal de La Pintana.
“”It’s an absolute pleasure to welcome our fantastic rugby sevens teams to the Pan Am Games,” said Christine Girard, Team Canada’s Santiago 2023 Chef de Mission. “I’m excited to be able to witness their success as they leave their mark on the field and in the hearts of so many Canadians!”
Team Canada’s rugby sevens teams’ coaches and support staff for the Santiago 2023 Pan American Games are:
Coaches
Jack Hanratty (Halifax, N.S.) – Women’s Head Coach
Iain Monaghan (Victoria, B.C.) – Women’s Assistant Coach
Sean White (Victoria, B.C.) – Men’s Head Coach
Support Staff
Jennifer Joyce (Richmond, B.C.) – Women’s Strength & Conditioning Coach
Sebastian Pearson (Lindsay, Ont.) – Men’s Strength & Conditioning Coach
Danielle McNally (Hubbards, N.S.) – Women’s Athletic Therapist
Andrew McMillan (Sudbury, Ont.) – Men’s Athletic Therapist
Richard Andrews (Northampton, England) – Lead Sevens Analyst
Alexandra Henry (Georgetown, Ont.) – Team Manager
Prior to being named to Team Canada, all nominations are subject to approval by the Canadian Olympic Committee’s Team Selection Committee following its receipt of nominations by all National Sport Organisations.
The latest Team Canada Santiago 2023 roster can be found here.