Canada’s Women’s and Men’s Sevens rosters named for Commonwealth Games

Commonwealth Sport Canada (CSC) and Rugby Canada today announced the athletes who will represent Team Canada in Rugby Sevens at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, England taking place July 28 to August 8, 2022.

26 athletes from two teams – one Women’s and one Men’s - make up this year’s Commonwealth Rugby Sevens Canadian representatives.

“It’s an honour for each and every one of the team to represent their country at the Commonwealth Games,” said Canada’s Women’s Head Coach Jack Hanratty. “We go there with a real hunger to make it into the medal rounds. This new, young squad want to show they have what it takes to perform. We’re delighted to be able to welcome Piper [Logan] into the group for her first callup and it shows the strength of our depth chart that we continue to hand out debuts at this time of year following the conclusion of the HSBC Sevens Series.”

“Heading into the Commonwealth Games, we are delighted with the timely return of Josiah [Morra] back into the roster following injury,” said Canada’s Men’s Sevens Head Coach Henry Paul. “This competition provides the team with an opportunity to represent their country at one of the most renowned major games in the world. The competition is fierce with both the Olympic Gold (Fiji) and Silver (New Zealand) medalists in action and with both countries currently playing at the highest level. We’re heading to the UK excited and also determined to make our mark on the tournament, with the quality of opposition it will take the maximum concentration and efforts of all our squad to do this.”

Team Canada leadership are eager to see Canada’s best rugby players play for it all on the rugby pitch.

“Rugby 7s has been played at every Commonwealth Games since Kuala Lumpur 1998, but the women’s event played for the first time at Gold Coast 2018,” says Scott Stevenson, Executive Director, Team Canada 2022. “Knowing the caliber of both the women’s and men’s teams, we can’t wait to see Canada take on the strongest teams in the Commonwealth and fight for medals.”

The Women’s team sees Piper Logan of Calgary, AB receive her first international call up, while Chloe Daniels returns to the roster after missing both the Langford and France Sevens. Having represented Canada’s Senior Women’s 15s at the Pacific Four Series in New Zealand last month, crossover athletes Pamphinette Buisa and Renee Gonzalez return to Sevens action. Breanne Nicholas and Olivia Apps will co-captain the side.

The Men’s roster includes three crossover athletes - Cooper Coats, Brock Webster and Matthew Oworu – who all started in Canada’s Men’s 15s international test match against Spain in Ottawa last weekend. Ciaran Breen is named on the roster for the first time this year having rejoined the team’s training environment in May following his stint playing professionally in France, while Josiah Morra returns to the side after recovering from injury. Phil Berna will captain the Men’s team.

The Rugby Sevens competition will take place at Coventry Stadium from Friday July 29 to Sunday July 31.

Birmingham 2022 will feature 19 sports and 8 para-sports as part of its program with up to 4,500 athletes taking part. The Commonwealth Games are the only multi-sport event that feature equal standing for sport and para-sport events, and these 2022 Games will showcase the largest para-sport program ever. In addition, for the first time in its history, the Games will feature more medal events for women (135) than men (133).

Canada’s Women’s Sevens team which will represent Canada at the Birmingham 2022 includes:

1. Olivia De Couvreur (Ottawa, ON) - Ottawa Irish
2. Renee Gonzalez (Toronto, ON) – University of Victoria
3. Pamphinette Buisa (Gatineau, QC) - Ottawa Irish/University of Victoria
4. Breanne Nicholas (Blenheim, ON) - London St. Georges
5. Nakisa Levale (Abbotsford, BC) - Abbotsford RFC
6. Emma Chown (Barrie, ON) – Aurora Barbarians & Queen’s University
7. Chloe Daniels (Sutton, ON) - RC Maple Leafs Academy/Queens University
8. Bianca Farella (Montreal, QC) – Town of Mount Royal RFC
9. Olivia Apps (Lindsay, ON) - Lindsay RFC
10. Fancy Bermudez (Edmonton, AB) - Nor'wester Athletic Association/Westshore RFC
11. Piper Logan (Calgary, AB) – Calgary Hornets/UBC Thunderbirds
12. Keyara Wardley (Vulcan, AB) – Okotoks Lions
13. Krissy Scurfield (Canmore, AB) – University of Victoria

Canada’s Men’s Sevens team which will represent Canada at the Birmingham 2022 includes:

1. Anton Ngongo (Victoria, BC) – Castaway Wanderers
2. Jake Thiel (Abbotsford, BC) – Abbotsford RFC
3. Nick Allen (North Vancouver, BC) - University of British Columbia
4. Phil Berna (Vancouver, BC) – Vancouver Rowing Club
5. Alex Russell (Chichester, ENG) - McGill University
6. Josiah Morra (Toronto, ON) – Castaway Wanderers/Toronto Saracens
7. Brock Webster (Uxbridge, ON) – Oshawa Vikings RFC
8. Cooper Coats (Halifax, NS) – Halifax Tars
9. D’Shawn Bowen (Toronto, ON) – Pacific Pride
10. Lachlan Kratz (Victoria, BC) – NOLA Gold
11. Ciaran Breen (Victoria, BC) – Cowichan RFC
12. Matthew Oworu (Calgary, AB) – Pacific Pride
13. Elias Hancock (Ottawa, ON) – Bytown Blues