By Canadian Press

Canadian rugby sevens women down Japan to finish fifth at Cape Town Sevens

Dec 8, 2024 | 10:35 AM

CAPE TOWN — Asia Hogan-Rochester scored her fourth try of the day to help Canada finish fifth at the Cape Town Sevens with a 22-7 win over Japan on Sunday.

The Olympic silver medallist Canadian women were coming off an eighth-place finish last weekend in Dubai, the opening event of the seven-stop 2025 HSBC SVNS season.

New Zealand faced the United States in the women’s cup final later Sunday while host South Africa took on France in the men’s title decider.

The U.S women upset Dubai winner Australia 24-19 in semifinal play while New Zealand blanked France 43-0. In the men’s semifinals, South Africa defeated Dubai runner-up Spain 19-12 and France downed Fiji 19-17 in a rematch of the Paris Olympic final won by France.

The Japan women, who survived a relegation playoff in June to maintain their core status on the circuit, beat Canada twice in Dubai, winning 40-5 in pool play and 24-22 in the seventh-place playoff

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But Canada had the upper hand in Cape Town.

Carissa Norsten, captain Piper Logan and Maya Addai also scored tries for Canada, which led 12-0 at the half. Breanne Nicholas kicked a conversion.

Norsten, last season’s HSBC SVNS Rookie of the Year, opened the scoring with Canada taking advantage of an overlap after several Japanese errors. Hogan-Rochester scored her fifth try of the weekend just before halftime with Japan down a player with Hana Nagata in the sin-bin for a professional foul.

Fending off a defender, Logan scored in the corner to up the lead to 17-0 early in the second half as Canada took further advantage of having the extra player. Japan pulled a late converted try back from Mayu Yoshino to cut the lead to 17-7 before Addai powered her way over in the final minute for her first-ever try on the circuit.

Canada opened the day with a win over in the fifth-place semifinal with a 27-12 win over Britain with Hogan-Rochester scoring three tries. Carmen Izyk and Logan also scored tried and Nicholas kicked a conversion for Canada, which led 17-5 at the half.

The Canadians finished runner-up in Pool A Saturday, after beating Brazil 43-17 and losing 26-10 to Australia.

In a format change, the South Africa event had the 12 men’s and women’s teams divided into four pools of three with the pool winners advancing directly to semifinals. Normally there are three pools of four with the top two in each group plus the two best third-place finishers moving on to the quarterfinals.

World Rugby, citing player welfare, is using the revamped format for the second rounds of back-to-back events. The governing body says the revised format is optimal for a two-day event, which allows teams an extra day of recovery and preparation following the previous weekend’s event and subsequent travel.

The four pool winners progress to the cup semifinals. The second-placed teams enter the fifth- to eighth-place playoffs and the third-placed teams in to the ninth- to 12th-place play offs.

The revised format will also be used in Singapore, which takes place one week after Hong Kong.

After Cape Town, the circuit moves to Perth, Australia (Jan. 24-26), Vancouver (Feb. 21-23), Hong Kong (March 28-30) and Singapore (April 5-6) to decide the HSBC SVNS league winners, before the May 3-4 HSBC SVNS World Championship at Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson, Calif.

The top eight men’s and women’s teams will then compete in the winner-take-all championship in California while the bottom four teams join the top four from the second-tier Challenger Series in a promotion-relegation playoff.

The Canadian women finished fifth overall in last season’s league standings and lost 26-14 to New Zealand in the bronze-medal game in the HSBC SVNS championship round in Madrid in June.

Relegated in June, the Canadian men had been a core team on the top sevens circuit since 2012-13 and lifted the trophy in Singapore in 2017. They finished eighth in Tokyo’s Olympic Games.

The Canadian men won their way on to the Challenger Series last month when they won the Rugby Americas North (RAN) Sevens in Trinidad.

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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 8, 2024.

The Canadian Press