Canadian rugby women finish 11th while men place 14th at New Zealand Sevens

HAMILTON, New Zealand — The Canadians ended the HSBC New Zealand Sevens with a win on Saturday, beating Papua New Guinea 44-5 for 11th place.

Canada, entering the tournament ranked ninth in HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series standings after two events, received three tries from Bianca Farella and singles from Krissy Scurfield, Nakisa Levale, Fancy Bermudez Chavez, Renee Gonzalez and Shalaya Valenzuela against Papua New Guinea , an invitation page at the tournament.

The 13th-ranked Canadian men finished 14th after a 24-14 loss to No. 12 Spain. Canada beat Spain 12-5 in pool on Friday.

Canada lost 7-0 to No. 8 Spain earlier in the day. On Friday, Canada drew 12-12 with No. 4 France before losing in Group B to No. 1 Australia 33-7 and No. 10 Japan 17-7. It was Japan’s first-ever win against the Canadians, who finished eighth in Cape Town and ninth in Dubai.

The Canadian men lost 5-21 to No. 14 Kenya led by former Canada coach Damian McGrath the previous Saturday.

A first-half attempt by Canada’s Brock Webster threw out an Edmund Anya goal, but attempts from Willy Ambaka and George Ooro Angeyo propelled the Kenyans to victory, with Canada rebounding 21-17 in 11th-placed Uruguay before beating again Spain ran.

The Canada men fell into the consolation round after winning 1-2-0, losing 34-5 to No. 2 South Africa and 29-14 to No. 8 Argentina and beating Spain on Friday.

McGrath was appointed as Canada men’s coach in October 2016, succeeding Zimbabwe’s Liam Middleton, whose contract was not renewed after Canada failed to qualify for the Rio Olympics. The veteran England coach guided Canada to the tournament title in Singapore in 2017, their first cup win in Canada’s 140th Men’s Event of the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series, but was sacked in May 2019 when the team finished 12th overall.

Henry Paul, who succeeded McGrath, stepped down as Canada coach in November, with assistant coach Sean White taking over as interim head coach.

The Canadian men finished 14th in both Dubai and Cape Town after opening the season with a 10th place finish in Hong Kong. After losing to Fiji in the quarter-finals in Hong Kong, South Africa won in Dubai and finished fourth in Cape Town.

Canada looks to escape the relegation zone in the new 11-stop World Series format in the 2023 men’s season.

The 15th regular team after the 10th round in Toulouse in May will be relegated. The teams ranked 12th, 13th and 14th at the end of the event in Toulouse join the 2023 Challenger Series winner in a four-team relegation playoff in the final stop of the season in London.

The relegation playoffs will be played in a round-robin format, with the top two teams then playing in a final. The winner becomes the 2024 Series core 12 team, while the other three teams compete in their respective Regional Sevens Championships to qualify for the 2024 World Rugby Sevens Challenger Series.

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This report from The Canadian Press was first published on January 21, 2023.

The Canadian Press