Canada’s Men’s Sevens Team wins RAN Sevens, qualifies for HSBC Sevens Challenger

Canada’s Men’s Sevens Team has won the 2024 Rugby Americas North (RAN) Sevens, with a 38-0 win over hosts Trinidad and Tobago in the final.

With this win, Canada’s Men’s Sevens Team has qualified for the 2025 World Rugby HSBC Sevens Challenger series, the dates and locations of which are still to be announced by World Rugby. The top four placed teams from the HSBC Sevens Challenger will secure a spot in the promotion and relegation play-off competition at the HSBC SVNS World Championship taking place May 3 to 4, 2025, in Los Angeles, at which four HSBC SVNS 2026 berths are up for grabs.

Canada opened day three with a quarter-final match-up against the Cayman Islands. Josiah Morra was the first to score, his try converted by Thomas Isherwood to give Canada an early 7-0 lead. This was followed up with a try from Elias Hancock, who pushed through several tackle attempts to score. Morra scored his second of the game, once again converted by Isherwood, to give Canada a 19-0 lead at half-time.

Hancock also contributed a second try, receiving an offload from Alex Russell and sprinting down the sideline. The rain returned for a second day in a row, but it didn’t hold Canada back, with Ethan Hager increasing his team’s lead, his try converted by Cooper Coats. D’Shawn Bowen made use of a turnover in Canada’s half to score his first of the tournament, with Isherwood’s conversion giving Canada the 38-0 win.

This set up a semi-final against Jamaica. Russell scored between the uprights in the opening minute, with Isherwood kicking a good conversion. A classic Josiah Morra try furthered Canada’s lead to 12-0, which remained the score at half-time.

Canada won a Jamaican lineout, leading to Hancock’s third of the day, converted by Isherwood. One last try was scored, by Coats with another Isherwood conversion, with Canada winning 26-0 to progress to the final.

The final was scoreless through the first four and a half minutes, with Hancock being the one to get Canada on the board, his try converted by Isherwood. Matthew Oworu made use of a dummy pass to get through Trinidad and Tobago’s defence and score Canada’s second of the game, Isherwood converting the try once again, with the score at 14-0 at half-time.

Coats scored in the second half off a pass from Morra, converting his own try, and Hancock had yet another multi-try performance, extending Canada’s lead further to 26-0. Jack Shaw had a career milestone moment, scoring his first international sevens try, with Hancock kicking the conversion. Noah Bain capped off Canada’s performance by scoring in extra time. With a 38-0 win, Canada won RAN Sevens, not allowing any points against all tournament to take first place.

“A huge message that we’ve been delivering the whole way is earning our opportunity. Last year we didn’t do that. This is a really good start to a year. Coming through camp, collectively we looked at defence as being a bit of a weakness for our group and to not give up one point over the whole weekend, it’s a really, really big accomplishment,” said Head Coach Sean White.

“I’m proud of every opportunity that we took and that we grew game to game. I thought we got better each game, playing better competition each game, and a huge shoutout to the Trinidad and Tobago Rugby Union. I think it’s 10 years since they’ve been in the final and we were happy to play that final with them. We’re really looking forward to getting home and continuing our training, getting into the Challenger series, and hopefully building from where we are right now.”

Canadian fans can cheer on Canada’s Men’s Sevens Team on home soil this upcoming February, with the team slated to play in an invitational men’s sevens tournament taking place at BC Place alongside HSBC SVNS Vancouver. Tickets are available here, with more information to be announced soon.

More information on RAN Sevens can be found here.