By Canadian Press

Canada women move up HSBC SVNS season standings with fourth-place finish in Perth

Jan 26, 2025 | 9:51 AM

PERTH — The Canadian women climbed two places to fifth in the HSBC SVNS overall standings after placing a season-best fourth Sunday at the Perth stop on the elite rugby sevens circuit.

Unbeaten in pool play and a 27-5 quarterfinal winner over Brazil, Canada’s winning run ended in a 24-17 semifinal loss to eventual champion Australia. Trailing 19-0 at the half, the Canadians rallied to cut the margin to 19-17 on tries by Shoshanah Seumanutafa, Asia Hogan-Rochester and Carmen Izyk and conversions by Olivia Apps.

A Demi Hayes try with the clock in the red sealed the Australian victory.

Australia, beaten 21-12 by Canada in the semifinal of the Paris Olympics, has now downed the Canadians in each of the three events to date this season — 39-0 in the Dubai quarterfinal and 26-10 in pool play in Cape Town last time out — to improve its career HSBC SVNS record against the Canadians to 26-14-1.

France then defeated Canada 14-12 to finish third for a third tournament in a row. A converted try by Florence Symonds gave Canada an early 7-0 lead only to see the French pull ahead in the 13th minute when Alycia Chrystiaens converted her own try — taking advantage of a Canada error on its own try-line.

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Despite missing injured stars Maddison Levi and Faith Nathan, second-seeded Australia held on to edge season-leading New Zealand 28-26 in the final. Tied 14-14 at the half, Australia finally pulled ahead for good on Heidi Dennis’ second try of the game.

The 19-year-old Dennis, named player of the final, attributed the win to “just grit, all the way to the end.”

“They really made us fight for that one,” she added.

It marked Australia’s first tournament win on home soil since 2018.

Argentina lifted the men’s trophy with a dominant 41-5 victory over Australia. Fiji, Argentina and Spain each have 48 points atop the men’s standings with South Africa fourth on 44.

The teams now have a break before heading to Vancouver for the fourth stop of the season Feb. 21-23 at B.C. Place Stadium.

Canada will renew acquaintances with Australia in Pool A in Vancouver along with No. 9 Brazil and No. 12 Spain.

Canada arrived in Perth seventh in the overall standings after finishing eighth in Dubai and fifth in Cape Town. The Canadian women went 1-4-0 in Dubai and 3-1-0 in Cape Town.

The Australian women. who also won in Dubai, have moved within two points of New Zealand, which won in Cape Town and was runner-up in Dubai. The French remain third.

With this HSBC SVNS season the first in the new Olympic quadrennial, Canada coach Jocelyn Barrieau has been blooding new talent.

She included seven new faces in her squad for the first two stops on tour. And Olivia Sarabura, Larah Wright and Gabrielle Senft made their sevens debut in Perth while Seumanutafa scored her first HSBC SVNS try.

Canada lost Savannah Bauder to an injury in training on the eve of the Perth tournament. Rugby Canada declined to elaborate on the injury when asked for more details.

After Vancouver, the seven-stop circuit moves to Hong Kong and Singapore before wrapping up May 3-4 in Carson, Calif.

The Singapore event will crown the SVNS season winners before the top eight men’s and women’s teams take part in the winner-takes-all world championship at California’s Dignity Health Sports Park.

The Canadian women finished fifth in the standings last season before losing 26-14 to New Zealand in June in Madrid in the third-place game. Australia won the women’s title, defeating France 26-7.

Canada’s men dropped off the circuit last June after being beaten 22-14 by Spain in a relegation decider in Madrid. They are looking to earn a chance back into the top tier via World Rugby’s Challenger Series.

The Canadian men will play Japan and Trinidad and Tobago in an invitational tournament in Vancouver held at the same time as the HSBC SVNS event.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 26, 2025.

The Canadian Press