Canadian rugby sevens women have tough day at Cape Town Sevens

CAPE TOWN – Canada had a rough day Saturday at the HSBC Cape Town SVNS, losing all three matches in Pool B play.

The day ended with a comprehensive 31- 12 loss to France at DHL Stadium, dropping the Canadian women into Sunday’s fifth-place semifinal against Fiji. The win avenged France’s 19-12 loss to Canada in the fifth-place semifinal at last weekend’s season-opening event in Dubai.

Canada lost 26-19 to both Japan and Australia earlier Saturday. The Canadians had been beaten by both teams en route to a sixth-place finish in Dubai.

Australia and France finished 1-2 in the Pool B, moving onto Sunday’s semifinals. Australia will face the U.S. while France takes on Pool A winner New Zealand.

Cape Town is the second of nine stops on the elite HSBC SVNS rugby sevens circuit this season. Vancouver is the fifth event of the season, scheduled for March 7-8 at B.C. Place Stadium.

France retained the ball from its opening kickoff and Lou Noel beat a Canadian defender to build a 7-0 lead. Noel scored again soon after, outpacing Eden Kilgour to up the lead to 12-0.

Kennedi Stevenson put Canada on the board off the ensuing kickoff, finding a seam in the French defence to cut the lead to 12-7. But Noel, after a fine run by Kelly Arbey, scored her third try under the posts with just over two minutes left in the half to make it 19-7 at the break.

Alycia Christiaens and captain Lili Dezou added second-half tries for France, who improved to 15-29-2 against the Canadians. Christiaens, Arbey and Dezou each booted a conversion.

Pam Buisa scored a late try for Canada.

The Canadian women got tries from Carmen Izyk, Krissy Scurfield and Larah Wright against Japan, which led 14-12 at the half. Asia Hogan-Rochester and Savannah Bauder each added a conversion.

Stevenson, Izyk and captain Carissa Norsten accounted for the Canadian tries against Australia, which led 19-7 at the half. Hogan-Rochester booted two conversions.

Canada’s record against Australia and Japan on the circuit slipped to 14-32-1 and 10-5-0, respectively.

Coach Jocelyn Barrieau made one lineup change with Calgary debutante Ivy Poetker replacing injured veteran Charity Williams.

The Canadian women went 2-3-0 at Dubai, losing to Australia, Japan and the U.S. New Zealand swept the men’s and women’s cup finals in Dubai’s Sevens Stadium, defeating Australia both times.

World Rugby has revamped the HSBC SVNS format, reducing the field to just eight men’s and eight women’s teams for the first six events of the season. The field then expands for the final three stops, with promotion-relegation in the table.

The Canadian men, relegated in June 2024, are still looking to climb their way back into the top tier.

Having just won the Rugby Americas North (RAN) Sevens in Trinidad, the Canadian men continue their climb up the sevens ladder at the HSBC SVNS 3 on Jan. 17-18 in Dubai.

The Canadian women finished eighth in Dubai last December. They followed that by placing fifth in Cape Town, fourth in Perth, seventh in Vancouver and third in both Hong Kong and Singapore to stand fourth overall in the six-event regular-season standings in advance of the HSBC SVNS Championship in May.

Canada won bronze at that championship finale in Carson, Calif., defeating the U.S. 27-7.

—

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 6, 2025