Canada’s Women’s Sevens Team takes bronze in Hong Kong

Canada’s Women’s Sevens Team won bronze at the Cathay/HSBC Hong Kong Sevens, beating France in the third place play-off on Sunday.

With this season-best finish, Canada also moves into fourth in the overall standings, and has been confirmed as one of the eight women’s teams to compete in the HSBC SVNS World Championship in May in Los Angeles, the final stop of the HSBC SVNS series.

Canada started the third day of competition at Kai Tak Sports Park by taking on the eventual champions, New Zealand, in the semi-finals. New Zealand scored twice in the opening three minutes, followed by Sabrina Poulin nearly scoring for Canada off a kick and chase. Despite great efforts from Florence Symonds and Carissa Norsten to chase down the New Zealand attack, the Black Ferns Sevens scored twice more to lead 26-0 at half-time. Three tries for New Zealand in the second half gave them a 41-0 win.

Canada then rebounded for the third place play-off, with a thrilling 21-17 win over France to clinch bronze. France scored first, but Shalaya Valenzuela got Canada in the board in the third minute, picking off a French pass. Olivia Apps converted the try to tie the game 7-7.

A tight match, Apps then scored and converted her own try in the final minute of the first half to give Canada a 14-7 lead at half-time.

France responded with back-to-back tries, stealing back the lead from Canada and going up 17-14. In the 11th minute however, Norsten offloaded the ball to Poulin, who sprinted down the wing and touched the ball down between the uprights. Taylor Perry converted the try, and Canada kept France at bay for the remaining minutes to secure the victory.

“Overall we had a pretty great performance. We have some areas that we need to work on moving forward to Singapore, including our kick off, which we’re very aware of, and trying to solidify a few additional possessions in that area, because when we have the ball in hand, we’ve been exciting and excellent and unpredictable on attack,” said Jocelyn Barrieau, Head Coach of Canada’s Women’s Sevens Team.  

“Defensively we had a few really big moments and players stepping up to those big moments. Our connection on defence continues to grow and we look forward to continuing to push the group’s connection moving into Singapore. Moving forward, we’ll definitely take that bronze medal game in the new Kai Tak Stadium in a very proud way. To represent our country and to do it in an iconic place and a brand new iconic stadium was a pretty cool thing to do. Really happy with the performance and looking forward to arriving in Singapore and getting back to work.”

Canada’s Women’s Sevens Team now travels to Singapore for HSBC SVNS Singapore, which takes place April 5 to 6. Canada will compete in Pool C against the USA and Great Britain. All matches can be watched live on TSN+.

MORE INFO   

For the most up to date information on the HSBC SVNS Series and live coverage, including details on the event format, the schedule and the latest news, visit the official website: svns.com.