Canadian women post a pair of wins, finish 5th at Vancouver Sevens

Canada celebrates after defeating Fiji for fifth place during Vancouver Sevens women's rugby action, in Vancouver, on Sunday, March 8, 2026. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ethan Cairns

VANCOUVER — After a disappointing start to their home-soil tournament, Canada’s women’s sevens rugby team bounced back with a pair of victories on Sunday.

After dropping all three of their matches in Day 1 pool play at BC Place, the Canadians opened with a 19-12 win over Japan at the 2026 Canada Sevens tournament before securing fifth place by edging Fiji 26-19.

“I felt really good,” said Charity Williams, who scored the game-winning try with no time left on the clock to give Canada the win over the Japanese. “I’m proud of us for pushing through. A lot of teams might fall back on that one, or just get down on themselves. But we came here to do a job. We didn’t get the first job right, but we definitely got the second job right.”

Gaining 12 standings points for their weekend’s work, the Canadians retain fifth spot as they head into this year’s final SVNS series event in New York next weekend. It’s their second-straight fifth-place finish after coming third in Singapore and opening the season with two sixth-position placements in Dubai and Cape Town.

Canada’s losses on Saturday came against the third-ranked United States, second-ranked Australia and seventh-ranked Fiji. Sunday afternoon’s fifth-place rematch against the Fijians marked a rare do-over opportunity, which Canadian coach Jocelyn Barrieau relished.

“We talked about playing it again,” she said. “We framed that whole game about it being our second chance to showcase who we are and what we want to be.”

Canada started strong in its final game. Claire Gallagher got her team on the board in the first minute with her first-ever try, then North Vancouver’s Savannah Bauder turned on the jets on a long defensive run that prevented a Fijian equalizer.

“It’s a lot easier when you look into the stands and see familiar faces cheering you on,” said Bauder, whose extensive cheering section included family, friends, neighbours and members of the local rugby community. “Having that in my heart and knowing when I look up, they’re going to be cheering for me, it’s really what drives me on the field.”

By halftime, the Canadians had built a 19-7 lead with off additional tries by Williams and Carmen Izyk. Captain Carissa Norsten added one more major score in the second half before Fiji made a late push, which came up short.

Norsten left the final match with an apparent injury later in the second half. Barrieau did not have an update after the game.

Next week’s stop in New York is a first for the SVNS Series. After missing the two previous tour stops with injury, Williams is eager to get right back on the pitch.

“I just can’t wait to get another opportunity to show everybody who we are and what we’ve actually been working on,” she said. “I’m happy that we will only get a couple sleeps and then we’re at it again.”

Following New York, the competition pool expands to 12 men’s and women’s teams for three SVNS World Championship events, starting in Hong Kong on Apr. 17, which will wrap up the 2025-26 season.

After being relegated in 2024, Canada’s men are not playing on the elite rugby tour. This weekend in Vancouver, they’re taking part in a three-team invitational tournament, the Teck Tri-Nations Challenge, as preparation for their final two HSBC SVNS 2 Series events later in March.

On the pitch on Saturday, the Canadian men won both their games against Japan and Chile. On Sunday, they dropped a 12-10 decision to Chile before taking down Japan 31-7 to win the Teck Tri-Nations championship.

In the women’s elite group, New Zealand will face Australia for first place in the weekend’s final match. New Zealand is the defending champion from Vancouver in 2025, and the two sides have met in the final of all four previous tour stops this season, with the Black Ferns winning three of the four meetings. The United States will play France for third.

On the men’s side, seventh-place Spain meets No. 2 South Africa after upsetting top-ranked Fiji 24-17 in the semifinal. Spain had not previously finished higher than sixth this season.

This report by Carol Schram, The Canadian Press, was first published March 8, 2026.