Second place finish for Canada’s Men’s Sevens Team at first Sevens Challenger stop
Rugby 7s Senior Men
Canada’s Men’s Sevens Team finished second in the first round of the 2025 World Rugby HSBC Sevens Challenger on Sunday at Athlone Sports Stadium in Cape Town, beating Germany in the semi-finals before losing to Chile in the final.
Canada’s Men’s Sevens Team finished second in the first round of the 2025 World Rugby HSBC Sevens Challenger on Sunday at Athlone Sports Stadium in Cape Town, beating Germany in the semi-finals before losing to Chile in the final.
After finishing first in Pool D on Saturday, Canada progressed to the semi-finals where they played Germany. The Germans opened scoring in the second minute, but a try from Morgan Di Nardo, converted by Thomas Isherwood, tied the score moments later. Both teams scored once more in the first half, with Jamie Armstrong adding a try for Canada. With the conversion unsuccessful, Germany led 14-12 at half-time.
Isherwood got Canada their first lead of the game in the 10th minute, converting his own try. The game would be tied at the final whistle however, thanks to a tying try from Germany in the last few minutes. But a golden-point try from Kyle Tremblay scored off a kick and chase gave Canada the 24-19 win, ensuring their spot in the final.
Tremblay was the first to score in the final, which saw Canada take on Chile, his try converted by Kal Sager to give Canada a 7-0 lead in the third minute. Chile pushed back however, tying the game and then taking the lead to go up 14-7 at half-time. Three more tries in the second half led Chile to a 33-7 win over Canada.
“Despite the loss in the final, I’m very pleased with the play for our squad,” said Head Coach Sean White. “We’ve shown ourselves what we are capable of when we focus on our foundations and execute. We’ve also experienced what happens when we get these processes wrong against good teams. As a group we remain focused on small, consistent improvements each time we come together and will make the adjustments needed to compete for the podium again next week here in Cape Town.”
The second round of the World Rugby HSBC Sevens Challenger will take place March 7 and 8 in Cape Town. All matches will be available live on TSN+, with the pools and schedule to be announced by World Rugby soon.
More information on the World Rugby HSBC Sevens Challenger, including full schedules and updated scores, can be found here.