Canadian rugby sevens women open with back-to-back wins at Perth tournament

PERTH - Former captain Olivia Apps scored two tries against Britain and kicked the winning decisive to dispatch Fiji as Canada won its first two games at the HSBC SVNS Perth tournament.

The Canadian women will face the unbeaten United States on Saturday to determine who wins Pool B and gets a more favourable draw in the quarterfinals.

Asia Hogan-Rochester and Carmen Izyk also both scored two tries in Canada's opening 38-5 win over Britain. The Canadians led 19-0 at the half at HBF Park in extending their win streak against the British to six games.

Canada trailed Fiji 12-7 at the half, with Fiji responding with a pair of tries after Carissa Norsten opened the scoring in the first minute. Apps scored a 12th-minute try to tie the score before nailing the conversion for the 14-12 win.

Apps is back from 15s duty with Canada at the WXV tournament in Vancouver. She is serving as vice-captain with Piper Logan continuing as skipper.

Canada lost Savannah Bauder to an injury in training this week. Rugby Canada declined to elaborate on the injury when asked for more details.

Canada arrived at the tournament in seventh place in the overall standings after finishing eighth in the season-opening tournament in Dubai and fifth in Cape Town. The Canadian women went 1-4-0 in Dubai and 3-1-0 in Cape Town.

The U.S. stood fourth overall while Britain was fifth and Fiji 11th.

After Perth, the teams head to Vancouver for the fourth stop of the season Feb. 21-23 at B.C. Place Stadium. The circuit then moves to Hong Kong and Singapore before wrapping up May 3-4 in Carson, Calif.

The Singapore event will crown the SVNS season winners before the top eight men’s and women’s teams take part in the winner-takes-all world championship at California’s Dignity Health Sports Park.

New Zealand currently leads the women’s standings after winning in Cape Town and finishing runner-up to Australia in Dubai. The Australians, who finished fourth in Cape Town, are second ahead of France, which finished third at both events.

The Olympic silver medallist Canadian women finished fifth in the standings last season before losing 26-14 to New Zealand in June in Madrid in the third-place game. Australia won the women’s title, defeating France 26-7.

On the men's side, upstart Uruguay was the surprise of the day with wins over Fiji (24-17) and New Zealand (17-12) to lead Pool C

Fiji leads the current men’s standings, ahead of Spain, France and South Africa. New Zealand stood sixth, four places ahead of Uruguay.

Canada’s men dropped off the circuit last June after being beaten 22-14 by Spain in a relegation decider in Madrid. They are looking to earn a chance back into the top tier via World Rugby's Challenger Series. 

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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 24, 2025.