Perfect records propel Canada’s Sevens Teams to the semi-finals at Paris 2024 Qualifier

Canada’s Women’s and Men’s Sevens Teams moved one step closer to qualifying for the Paris 2024 Olympics on Saturday at Starlight Stadium in Langford, BC, winning all their round robin games ahead of Sunday’s semi-finals.

Fancy Bermudez got things started for Canada’s Women’s Sevens Team, scoring halfway into the first half against St. Lucia. Followed by tries from Sophie de Goede and Alysha Corrigan, Canada held a 21-0 lead at half-time. The second half was highlighted by a hat trick from Krissy Scurfield, with Corrigan also scoring her second of the match, and Asia Hogan-Rochester and Florence Symonds collecting their firsts of the tournament. Captain Olivia Apps and Breanne Nicholas combined to convert seven of Canada’s nine tries.   

“Playing at home always has kind of the first game jitters, so it’s nice to get those out, and we finished on our terms and how we wanted to finish, so we’re happy with the win,” said Corrigan. “I liked the tempo we played with. It was kind of a rough start so we’re going to want to clean up that going into next game, but how we finished with the tempo, we got some points on the board, so we’re happy with that.”

Canada’s scoring spree continued in the second game, with the Canadians taking a 27-0 lead at half-time due to tries from Symonds, de Goede, Scurfield, and Maddy Grant. Hogan-Rochester and Nicholas added to Canada’s tally before Jamaica put together one final push into Canada’s half. Jamaica was unable to score, with the ball eventually making its way into the hands of Chloe Daniels, who ran the full length of the field to increase Canada’s lead to 46-0. Apps, who kicked all four of Canada’s conversions, scored the final try of the 53-0 win.

“Our first game started a bit slow, a bit sloppy, and we worked on our discipline, our sense of urgency,” said Julia Greenshields. “I think that really came through in the second game, and we hope to carry that on in the third and of course to the gold medal game.”

Not allowing a single try against on day one, Canada’s Women’s Sevens Team won their final game of the day by a score of 82-0, with multi-try performances from Grant, Symonds, Bermudez, and Scurfield.

Canada’s Women’s Sevens Team finishes at the top of the standings following round robin play, and will now meet fourth-ranked St. Lucia in the semi-finals.

Cooper Coats, returning to competition following recovery from injury, opened scoring for Canada’s Men’s Sevens Team versus Barbados, later converting tries from Alex Russell and Ethan Hager to put the score at 19-0 at half-time. Hager’s try was his first ever for Canada’s Men’s Sevens Team in what was his first international sevens appearance. Second half tries from David Richard, Elias Hancock and Coats, along with conversions from Lockie Kratz and Coats, gave Canada a 38-0 win.

“We came out in the first two minutes and took care of what we wanted to in the beginning, which was setting the tempo early and taking care of the little details. I think we got away from that a touch, but a quick chat at half-time and we got back on board,” said interim Head Coach Sean White. “We just keep going game to game, detail to detail, and looking to take care of what we can in each given game.”

Hager scored yet again, converted by Coats, in Canada’s match against Jamaica. An offload from Kratz to captain Phil Berna, with Kratz adding the conversion, further increased Canada’s lead to 14-0 at half-time, but Jamaica struck shortly after, closing the gap to 14-12. Canada confirmed their win moments later however, with a run down the field by Russell, who offloaded the ball to Brock Webster for the try, which Webster also converted to give Canada the 21-12 win.

“From our lessons from Toulouse and London, those high pressure games—[for example] we were down 19-7 against Uruguay [in London] with three minutes to go in the second half, and we figured a way to crawl back—I think that’s sort of a testament to the team,” Russell said of playing games with tighter scores. “Finding the ability to get the job done in the hard moments. So I’m pretty proud of the boys for a full 14 minute performance, and we’ll learn from it.”

Canada’s Men’s Sevens Team finished pool play at the top of Pool B, and will skip quarter-finals and progress straight to the semi-finals, their opponent still to be determined.

Rugby Americas North Sevens continues tomorrow, Sunday August 20, with Canada’s Women’s Sevens Team playing St. Lucia in the semi-finals at 1:35 p.m. PT / 4:35 p.m. ET and Canada’s Men’s Sevens Team playing the winner of the Mexico vs Barbados quarter-final in the semi-finals at 2:02 p.m. PT / 5:02 p.m. ET. The gold medal games are set for 4:28 p.m. PT / 7:28 p.m. ET (women’s final) and 5:28 p.m. PT / 8:28 p.m. ET (men’s final), the winners of which will qualify for the Paris 2024 Olympics.

All scores and standings can be found on the Rugby Americas North website here.

Broadcast coverage is available in Canada via CBC. The full tournament is available to stream via cbcsports.ca, the CBC Sports app, and the free CBC Gem streaming service, with live and highlight television coverage tomorrow, August 20, from 1:00 to 3:00 p.m. PT / 4:00 to 6:00 p.m. ET.

A limited number of tickets are still available for purchase for Sunday at rugby.ca/en/tickets. Questions regarding ticket purchases can be directed to tickets@rugby.ca.