Canadian women fall to New Zealand in rugby seven quarterfinals

Canada's Carissa Norton scores a try as New Zealand's Maia Davis watches during Vancouver Sevens quarterfinal women's rugby action, in Vancouver, B.C., Saturday, Feb. 22, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ethan Cairns

The Canadian women fell behind early and saw their hopes of a podium finish vanish after a 34-12 loss to rugby powerhouse New Zealand Saturday at the HSBC SVNS Vancouver.

The Black Ferns, who beat Canada in the gold-medal game at the Paris Olympics, built 24-7 halftime lead and cruised to victory. Stacey Waaka and Jorja Miller led the assault with two tries each.

Asia Hogan-Rochester and Carissa Norsten scored tries for Canada. Olivia Apps kicked the convert.

“We lost momentum from the start,” said the 26-year-old Apps of Kawartha Lakes, Ont. “It’s tough. They won more minutes than we did. It’s a possession game and we just didn’t take care of the ball when we had it.”

Canada lost back Piper Logan to an injury within the first minute.

The Canadians play the U.S. on Sunday afternoon. The best the tournament hosts can finish is seventh.

“This team is really great at reacting to all the leanings that we have from every game we play,” said Apps. “I’m really excited to see what we put together for tomorrow.”

The women took bronze at last year’s HSBC SVNS tournament in Vancouver.

Canada lost 35-14 to Australia earlier in the day. The Canadians had the hometown crowd roaring after taking a 14-0 lead with just three minutes gone but then were overpowered by Australia’s speed and muscle.

Florence Symonds and Alysa Corrigan scored tries for Canada. Apps converted both.

“We came out with a lot of energy,” said Symonds, a 22-year-old from Vancouver. “In the second half we were defending for a lot of phases. It gets tiring. We just couldn’t hold them anymore.”

Tia Hinds led Australia with two tries and three converts.

In the other women quarterfinals, Japan rallied to defeat the U.S. 22-17 in overtime, Fiji rolled over Brazil 46-0, and Australia beat Britain 28-14.

Japan will play Fiji in one semifinal Sunday while New Zealand faces Australia.

In the men’s quarterfinals, Spain and Argentina won their matches over New Zealand and France by identical 12-7 scores. Fiji blanked Britain 24-0 while South Africa beat Australia 17-14.

Spain will battle Argentina in one semifinal while Fiji plays South Africa in the other.

Canada came into the tournament fifth in the overall women’s standings with 32 points. New Zealand leads with 56, two more than Australia and eight ahead of third-place France.

On the men’s side, Fiji, Argentina and Spain are all tied with 48 points. South Africa is fourth with 44.

Canada opened the tournament Friday with a 26-19 win over Brazil, in a game where Charity Williams scored her 100th career try. The women then rolled over Spain 41-5 thanks to three tries and a conversion from Hogan-Rochester.

The tournament has attracted its usual assortment of costumes and characters. A group of witches, with long flowing air, drank beer near several men dressed as nuns. There were three fist-pumping sasquatches, a swam of killer bees, and two large dancing dinosaurs.

The competition features 12 men and 12 women’s teams divided into three pools of four. The top two teams from each pool advance to the playoffs, along with the two best third-place teams.

The Canadian women finished in Pool A behind Brazil and Australia. All three teams were 2-1 but Brazil was ranked first and Australia second because of point differential. Spain was 0-3.

New Zealand (3-0) led Pool B followed by the United States (2-1), China (1-2) and Ireland (0-3).

Britain and Japan were 2-1 in Pool C, followed by Fiji and France, both 1-2.

On the men’s side Argentina (3-0) led Pool A, followed by Britain (2-1) France (1-2) and Keyna (0-3).

South Africa, New Zealand and Australia were all 2-1 in Pool B with Ireland 0-3.

Fiji (3-0) topped Pool C followed by Spain (2-1), Uruguay (1-2) and the U.S. (0-3).

The Canadian men are not playing on the elite rugby tour this season after being relegated last year.

They are part of an invitational men’s tournament and won two lopsided games Saturday, beating Trinidad and Tobago 50-0 and Japan 51-12.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 22, 2025.

Jim Morris, The Canadian Press