Canadian Women's Rugby Sevens Team Eliminated from Playoffs in Vancouver
In a disappointing turn of events at BC Place on Saturday, Canada's women's rugby sevens team saw their hopes for a medal dashed after suffering two consecutive losses during pool play at the HSBC SVNS tournament in Vancouver. The team entered the competition ranked fifth in the eight-team standings with 48 points but failed to advance to the playoff round.
Opening Match Defeat Against Rival United States
The Canadian squad faced a tough challenge right from the start, dropping their opening game to the third-ranked United States team by a decisive score of 40-7. The American side, holding 54 points in the circuit standings, dominated the match with Su Adegoke scoring a remarkable first-half hat trick of three tries. Canada's only response came from Keyara Wardley, who scored a try early in the second half during her first match back with the national team since winning silver at the Paris Olympics in 2024.
Florence Symonds, one of four players on Vancouver's roster enjoying a homecoming after playing collegiately at the University of British Columbia, expressed disappointment with the team's performance. "Obviously, we wanted to come out stronger against our big rivals, USA," Symonds said. "I think that we didn't start very strong against them." Symonds herself returned to national team action for the first time since playing through a medial collateral injury on her way to a silver medal at last September's Rugby World Cup.
Second Loss Against Australia and Team Reflections
In their second match of the day, Canada faced another formidable opponent in second-place Australia, who entered with 74 points in the standings. The Canadian team fell 26-12 despite tries from North Vancouver's Savannah Bauder and Kennedi Stevenson of Glen Williams, Ontario. Canadian coach Jocelyne Barrieau described her team's performances as "super gritty" but acknowledged the disappointment of the results. "I'm so proud of their performance," she said. "But for sure, it's a little bit heartbreaking and disappointing."
The Canadian roster featured several players returning to international action for the first time this season, including Piper Logan and Chloe Daniels alongside Symonds and Wardley. Symonds emphasized the team's focus on growth and development, noting, "This group hasn't played together for a really long time, so we're just going through the process and kind of taking it game by game. Hoping that we get better and improve each game and each day."
Tournament Format and Remaining Matches
In a new format for 2026, the HSBC SVNS circuit has been reduced from 12 to 8 teams for the first seven events of the year. The teams are divided into two pools of four, with the top two teams from each pool advancing to the playoffs while the bottom two compete for fifth place. Standings points are awarded accordingly, with gold medalists receiving 20 points and the eighth-place team receiving 8 points.
Vancouver represents the fifth tour stop of the 2026 SVNS Series. After the eight teams compete in New York next weekend, the pool will expand to 12 men's and women's teams for three SVNS World Championship events beginning in Hong Kong on April 17.
In their final match of pool play on Saturday night, Canada faced 0-2 Fiji, ranked seventh with 40 points, to determine seeding for Sunday's matches where they would look to add as many points as possible to their total. Meanwhile, Australia and the United States secured the Pool B playoff positions with wins in their first two games, while New Zealand and France went 2-0 in Pool A competition to secure their playoff spots.
Men's Team Participation in Separate Tournament
While Canada's women competed in the elite SVNS tournament, the Canadian men's team, after being relegated in 2024, earned promotion to SVNS 2 in January and are not playing on the elite rugby tour this season. Instead, they participated in a three-team invitational tournament in Vancouver called the Teck Tri-Nations Challenge. On Saturday, the men's team went 2-0 with a 28-26 win over Japan and a 7-0 victory over Chile, and were scheduled to play the same two teams again on Sunday as part of a double round-robin format.
