The Canadian women’s rugby squad showed energy and passion, scoring on the opening kickoff then rolling to a 27-10 victory over the United States to finish seventh on Sunday at the HSBC SVNS stop in Vancouver.
“We came out with all the energy in the world,” said Canadian back Florence Symonds, who scored three tries. “We needed that win to finish the day on a high.”
Canada set the tone for the match when Asia Hogan-Rochester took the opening kickoff and returned it for a try.
Fullback Olivia Sarabura chose an opportune time to notch her first sevens series try, scoring early in the second half. That made the score 22-10 and came after American Ariana Ramsey had scored twice to draw the U.S. close.
“It was awesome,” said Sarabura, a Guelph, Ont., native who attended the University of British Columbia. “It’s really cool to do it for my friends and family. I had a blast.”
While happy to end the tournament with a win the overall result wasn’t what the women were hoping for.
A 34-12 loss to powerhouse New Zealand Saturday dropped Canada into the seventh-place playoff game.
The Canadians came into the tournament feeling confident after last month’s season-best fourth-place finish in Perth, Australia. Canada had finished third at last year’s Rugby 7’s in Vancouver.
Canada opened play Friday with a 26-19 win over Brazil then rolled over Spain 41-5 before losing 35-14 to Australia. That set up a quarterfinal match against New Zealand, the same team Canada lost to in the Olympic Games final in Paris last summer.
Iain Monaghan, who coached Canada at the tournament, said the team needed to regroup after losing back-to-back games to the two teams that had won the last three tournaments.
“We always pride ourselves on learning from the victories and from the defeats,” he said. “We had a big honest talk this morning around where we could improve.
“I was really pleased that they stuck to the task and played really hard for one another.”
Monaghan said there were positives to take from the tournament. The team introduced some new players and worked on basics.
“That’s putting foundations in our attack and defence,” he said. “I think we’ve taken big strides. We’ll continue to do that for the next competitions.”
In women’s semifinal play, Fiji beat Japan 28-7. They will face New Zealand in the final, which defeated Australia 34-10.
New Zealand outscored its opponents 178-36 during the first five games of the tournament.
The men’s final will see Argentina face South Africa.
Argentina booked its ticket to the final with a 7-0 win over Spain, while South African beat Fiji 12-10.
Canada came into the tournament fifth in the overall women’s standings with 32 points. New Zealand leads with 56, two more than Australia and eight ahead of third-place France.
On the men’s side, Fiji, Argentina and Spain are all tied with 48 points. South Africa is fourth with 44.
The tournament has attracted its usual assortment of costumes and characters to BC Place Stadium. There were Sasquatches dressed in red plaid, a swam of killer bees, tall green aliens with big black eyes and a couple of large dancing dinosaurs. Flags from all nations waved.
The Canada-U. S. game was played with a backdrop of political tensions between the two countries. It also came on the heels of Canada’s emotional overtime win against the U.S. in hockey’s 4 Nations Face-Off tournament.
The pro-Canada crowd at BC Place Stadium cheered loudly and waved Maple Leafs.
“It’s definitely an awesome thing, beating the U.S. in our home tournament,” said Symonds.
The Canadian men are not playing on the elite rugby tour this season after being relegated last year.
They were part of an invitational men’s tournament in Vancouver and scored a series of lopsided wins. They beat Trinidad and Tobago 50-0 and 55-12 and Japan 33-12 and 51-12.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 23, 2025.
The Canadian Press
