Sydney Sevens wrap up with two wins for Canada’s Women’s Sevens Team

Canada’s Women’s Sevens Team finished in ninth at the Sydney Sevens, the last women’s tournament and second-to-last men’s tournament before the HSBC Canada Sevens.

Despite playing with a short bench, Canada’s Women’s Sevens Team won both games on Day 3, starting with a win over Spain in the ninth place semi finals. Down 5-0 early, Nakisa Levale caught the ball off the restart and passed to Breanne Nicholas, who managed to stay infield despite pressure and score for Canada. The successful conversion that followed helped Olivia Apps reach and surpass 50 points on the 2023 Sevens Series, and gave Canada the lead. This was followed in quick succession by a try from Shalaya Valenzuela.

Spain managed to score once more before being awarded a yellow card for a lifting tackle, which Fancy Bermudez took advantage of to further Canada’s lead. In the second half, tries from Renee Gonzalez and Alysha Corrigan helped clinch a 27-10 win for Canada.

The opening minute of the ninth place play-off saw Thalia Costa score her first of three tries for Brazil. A great effort from Valenzuela, playing in just her fourth Sevens Series tournament, gave Canada a prime opportunity to respond, with Levale securing the try.

Brazil led 14-5 at half time, and furthered their lead early in the second half. Canada answered with three tries of their own, starting with a score from Gonzalez and a great kick from Apps on the conversion in the tenth minute. Bermudez scored the final two tries. Another conversion from Apps gave Canada the 24-21 comeback win.

“It was a difficult two weeks where we got a good dose of reality about where we are all at. At the moment it’s not where we want to be, which is in those top four games,” said Jack Hanratty, Women’s Sevens Team Head Coach. “On our final day, considering the amount of injuries, we’re certainly proud of our effort and resiliency, but effort and resilience is not why we play high performance sport. We want to now bring a consistency, and we look forward to a great training block and welcoming the world’s best to Vancouver in March.”

Thomas Isherwood led Canada’s Men’s Sevens Team with 18 points on Day 3. Down 28-0 in the ninth place quarter finals against Tonga, Isherwood raced the ball down the field to get Canada on the board in the eleventh minute. Elias Hancock scored for Canada shortly after, his first ever World Rugby Sevens Series try. Isherwood kicked two clean conversions, but the team fell 35-14 to Tonga.

Canada’s final game of the tournament was the thirteenth place semi finals versus Spain. In the first minute of the game, Jake Thiel acted as a dummy runner with Josh Thiel passing the ball off to Isherwood, who collected a try and a conversion. The final minute of the first half saw Josiah Morra run the full length of the field to score. Another conversion from Isherwood brought Canada up 14-0. Spain took control of the game in the second half, scoring 17 points to eventually win 17-14 despite strong efforts from Canada to regain the lead.

"Disappointing finish to a week that started out with some promise, however, I remain proud of the effort the boys put in," said Sean White, Men's Sevens Team interim Head Coach. "We will go back to the drawing board and continue to push ourselves to hone our identity and push our capacity to sustain more consistent results and close out more games."

New Zealand won the women’s tournament, with a 35-0 win over France in the final. The men’s tournament was also won by New Zealand in a 38-0 win against South Africa.

For full results from the World Rugby Sevens Series, visit the official website: world.rugby/sevens-series.

Canada’s Men’s Sevens Team will be back in action February 25-26 in Los Angeles. Both teams will then head to Vancouver for the Canada Sevens on March 3-5. Buy tickets now at canadasevens.com.