Canada’s Women’s Sevens Team wins HSBC SVNS World Championship bronze

Canada’s Women’s Sevens Team won bronze at the HSBC SVNS World Championships on Sunday in Los Angeles with a dominating performance against the United States in the third place play-off.  

The team faced Australia in the semi-finals after coming second in Pool A. Australia scored early, but a try and conversion from Asia Hogan-Rochester tied the game in the fifth minute. Australia took back the lead before half-time, scoring three more in the second half to win 33-7 over Canada.

This set up a classic Canada vs United States match-up to determine third place. While the Americans scored in the opening minute, it would end up being their only try of the game. Canada capitalized on a yellow card to the US, with tries from Charity Williams and Carissa Norsten to put Canada up 10-7.

Hogan-Rochester entered the game late in the first half and made an immediate impact, scoring to give Canada a 15-7 lead at half-time. In the ninth minute, Hogan-Rochester picked up a loose ball to prevent a USA breakaway, and sped into the Americans’ zone to score, converting their own try. Hogan-Rochester secured a hat trick in the 13th minute, scoring off a pass from Carmen Izyk and giving Canada a 27-7 win.

This was Canada’s Women’s Sevens Team’s third podium finish in a row, having taken bronze in Hong Kong and Singapore as well.

“We’re super proud of our performance again,” said Jocelyn Barrieau, Head Coach of Canada’s Women’s Sevens Team. “Trying to find some consistency is one of the hardest things to get in high performance sport on the international scene, and we’ve been able to have different squads and find that consistency. We’re super happy with our result, especially to show up against a home team in a bronze medal game.

“The leadership of Olivia Apps and Florence Symonds throughout the week was excellent, and we’re really proud that they’re members of our team. Looking forward we want to close the gap between Australia and New Zealand. We will look hard at ourselves and make sure we have a plan next year to try to bridge that gap. That’s where we want to be, we want to be competing with them and we want to be considered amongst the best in the world. We’re trying to catch them and that’s something we look forward to doing, and continuing to solidify the foundations that we set for ourselves this year.”

Canada’s Men’s Sevens Team wrapped up pool play on Sunday in a thrilling game against Germany. While Germany went up 7-0 in the second minute, Jamie Armstrong got Canada on the board moments later. Germany scored two more to lead 17-5 at half-time, but Canada pushed back in the second half. Morgan Di Nardo closed the gap in the twelfth minute, his try converted by Thomas Isherwood.

Kainoa Lloyd scored a crucial tying goal in extra time to force golden point overtime. Di Nardo was the overtime hero, scoring to put Canada second in Pool B. With the first placed teams in each pool directly earning spots in Division II for the 2026 season, the second and third placed teams from both pools battled it out in the play-off finals to determine who would join them.

This set up Canada versus Kenya for the team’s final match. Kenya scored three tries in the first half to lead 19-0 at half-time, and a fourth in the second half. James Thiel got Canada on the board as the game came to a close, scoring his first-ever international SVNS series try.

With Kenya winning 24-5, this means that Canada’s Men’s Sevens Team will start the 2026 season in a regional competition, which will serve as a qualification event for HSBC SVNS Division III. The top two teams from Division III will qualify for Division II. The top four teams from Division II will then earn a spot in the 12-team World Championship. More information on this new HSBC SVNS series structure, which was announced by World Rugby last week, can be found here.

“Wins and losses aside, I’m very proud of how quickly this group came together,” said Sean White, Head Coach of Canada’s Men’s Sevens Team. “It isn’t easy for a new team to get to know each other in a decentralized environment where they only come together for 10 days before going to an international competition. Add in that many of our 12 new capped payers this season have not been part of any development sevens programs leading into the Challenger Series. All that aside, the way that they prepared away from the building showed very early on that they had made a commitment to each other and to the program, that they were willing to do whatever was necessary to get back into the top 12.

“We were unable to accomplish this goal, but I hope that outside of our changeroom walls there is an excitement for Canada’s Men’s Sevens Team because there’s certainly a good buzz inside them, and we will continue to prepare for whatever the next challenge is in front of us.”

MORE INFO

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