Asia Hogan-Rochester scored three tries as the Canadian women’s rugby sevens team rallied from an early deficit Sunday to defeat the U.S. 27-7 and earn bronze at the HSBC SVNS World Championship.
The Canadians, silver medallists at the Paris Olympics, had also finished third in Hong Kong and Singapore, the two events preceding the season finale.
Canada finished fourth in last season’s finale in Madrid in June, beaten 26-14 by No. 1 New Zealand in the bronze-medal game.
The Springbok Sevens defeated Spain 19-5 in the men’s final while New Zealand’s Black Ferns — who had already claimed the sevens series title — added to their trophy haul with a 31-7 victory over Australia in the women’s final.
The final event of the season saw the top eight men’s and women’s sides from the elite HSBC SVNS compete in the winner-take-all world championship at Dignity Health Sports Park, which will host rugby sevens at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
The Canada women, fourth after the first six events of the season, defeated No. 5 Japan 26-0 and No. 8 Britain 26-17 before falling 41-5 to New Zealand in group play. The women lost 33-7 to Australia earlier Sunday in semifinal play with Hogan-Rochester accounting for the Canadian points with a converted try and Faith Nathan scoring three tries for Australia.
That set up the third-place game against the sixth-ranked U.S., who lost 34-9 to New Zealand in the other semifinal
Sariah Ibarra sliced through the Canada defence for an early 7-0 U.S. lead. But poor discipline cost the Americans with Ibarra sent to the sin bin for an infraction soon after, reducing the U.S. to six players for the next two minutes.
Canada took advantage, pulling ahead 10-7 on tries via Charity Williams and Carissa Norsten with Ibarra off the field. Hogan-Rochester added another try on the eve of halftime for a 15-7 Canada lead.
Hogan-Rochester added two more tries in the second half, boosting her career total to 39.
There was no joy for the Canadian men, relegated from the top tier last June. They had hoped to earn their way back into the HSBC SVNS field via a promotion/relegation tournament held in conjunction with the World Championship.
Canadian have fight to re-enter top tier
But World Rugby changed the playing field, announcing on the eve of the tournament a revamped format to the sevens circuit next season.
Instead of promotion, the best the Canadian men could do was make the new Division 2 next season, with a chance to then earn promotion to the revamped eight-team top tier. And that slipped through their fingers Sunday in a 24-5 loss to Kenya in a playoff final.
In the first year of an Olympic quadrennial, the Canadian women have improved as the season wore on, with coach Jocelyn Barrieau managing a stream of new talent while players cycle between the sevens and 15s sides.
The Canadian women finished eighth to open the current season in Dubai, before placing fifth in Cape Town, fourth in Perth, seventh in Vancouver and third in both Hong Kong and Singapore.
New Zealand won tournaments in Cape Town, Vancouver, Hong Kong and Singapore, while Australia triumphed in Dubai and Perth, Australia.
New Zealand and Australia have gone a combined 11-0-0 against Canada in dominating the circuit this season.
While the top eight teams vied for the world championship, teams nine through 12 in the HSBC SVNS faced the top four teams from the second-tier Challenger Series — including the Canadian men — in the playoff bracket.
That was slated to be a promotion/relegation playoff until World Rugby changed the rules.
Now the Canadian men find themselves starting over at the bottom again. They will have to win the Rugby Americas North Sevens to make Division 3, which consists of a standalone Challenger event with eight men’s and eight women’s teams.
And then they will have to win their way back into Division 2, which will features six men’s and six women’s teams competing in three events.
James Thiel scored a consolation try, his first for Canada, against Kenya with time winding down.
The Canadians finished second in Group B behind Uruguay, beating Ireland 19-12 and Germany 22-17, losing 24-7 to the South Americans.
Uruguay, the U.S., Kenya and Germany will compete in the new Division 2 next season.
Uruguay and the U.S. qualified by virtue of winning their pools. The second- and third-place teams in the two groups crossed over for playoff games to decide who joined them with Kenya and Germany, which blanked Samoa 31-0, getting the job done.