Canada’s Women’s Sevens Team wins historic Olympic silver medal in Paris

Canada’s Women’s Sevens Team won a historic silver medal on Tuesday night in Paris, beating Australia in the semi-finals for a best-ever Olympic performance for Canada in rugby sevens. 

Progressing through to the semi-finals with a stunning win over France in the quarter-finals on Monday, Canada met Australia in a rematch of the Rio 2016 Olympic semi-finals. Maddison Levi opened scoring for Australia in the first minute of play, with Australia maintaining ball possession and taking a 12-0 lead in the fourth minute. Canada started to stage a comeback however, with Charity Williams finding space down the middle of the field off a quick tap and go. Olivia Apps converted the try to put the score at 12-7 for Canada at half-time.  

It was all Canada in the second half, with tries from Asia Hogan-Rochester and Piper Logan, both converted by Apps, sealing the 21-12 comeback victory (and a ticket to the gold final) for Canada.  

“I think people thought that we were the underdogs going into that match, and I think we always had that belief that we could come out on top,” said Logan. “We’ve always had that belief that even if we’re down, we will fight to the very end.” 

“We feel a lot of the support from home,” said Hogan-Rochester. “A lot of us are new to this Olympic experience, let alone a lot of us have debuted within the last three years. I think overall, this squad has a lot of energy and we know how to use it and use it to our advantage.” 

Canada faced defending Olympic champions New Zealand in the gold final. The Black Ferns Sevens scored first, but a yellow card to Portia Woodman-Wickliffe gave Canada the player advantage in the final few minutes of the first half. Chloe Daniels scored, converting her own try, to tie the game. This was followed moments later by Alysha Corrigan intercepting a New Zealand pass to give Canada a 12-7 lead at half-time. 

New Zealand battled back in the second half, taking back the lead in the opening minute. While Canada continued to pressure New Zealand, they managed to fend off Canada’s attack, with Stacey Waaka scoring in the final minute of play to give New Zealand a 19-12 win. Canada took the silver, the best performance at an Olympics yet, and second Olympic medal (Rio 2016, Paris 2024), for Canadian rugby.  

“It means everything. I hope we’ve inspired some young girls in Canada to join rugby and grow the game,” said Daniels. “I don’t know how many people on the outside were expecting it, but I think within the group, we had lots of belief. We started the year off ninth, and now we’re ending the Olympics with a silver medal. I think that goes to show all of our hard work throughout this entire year. We’re so grateful for [our staff] and everyone on the wider team who put in the work. It’s just an absolutely amazing accomplishment.”  

July 28 Results  

Canada 17 - 14 Fiji 
Pool Play 
Tries: Florence Symonds, Charity Williams, Keyara Wardley 
Conversions: Chloe Daniels 

Canada 7 - 33 New Zealand 
Pool Play 
Tries: Charity Williams 
Conversions: Asia Hogan-Rochester 

July 29 Results  

Canada 26 - 17 China 
Pool Play 
Tries: Piper Logan, Florence Symonds, Charity Williams (2) 
Conversions: Olivia Apps, Chloe Daniels (2) 

Canada 19 - 14 France 
Quarter-final 
Tries: Piper Logan (2), Chloe Daniels 
Conversions: Olivia Apps, Chloe Daniels 

July 30 Results 

Canada 21 – 12 Australia 
Semi-final 
Tries: Charity Williams, Asia Hogan-Rochester, Piper Logan 
Conversions: Olivia Apps (3)  

Canada 12 - 19 New Zealand 
Gold final 
Tries: Chloe Daniels, Alysha Corrigan 
Conversions:  Chloe Daniels