The Canadian rugby sevens women’s squad kicked off their Olympic campaign with a win against Fiji and a loss to New Zealand on Sunday in Paris.
In one of the most intriguing matchups on Sunday, Canada started off with a 17-14 win against Fiji. The two nations rank back-to-back in the world rankings with Canada at No. 5 and Fiji at No. 6.
It was Florence Symonds and Charity Williams that scored two tries in the first half to open up the match for Canada, giving them a 12-0 lead.
Leading 12-7 in the second half, Keyara Wardley found an angle to the edge of the try zone to make it 17-7 for Canada, which proved to be enough to hold off a late push by Fiji.
“It’s been back and forth with us and Fiji since Tokyo,” said captain Olivia Apps following the win. “For us today I think today we just really stuck to our system and really played in our process and I think that reflects in the game.”
Later in the day, Canada was in tough against the hottest rugby squad in the world, No. 1-ranked New Zealand.
The Black Ferns leapfrogged Australia late in the 2024 season in the world rankings, capturing gold in four consecutive SVNS Series tournaments heading into Paris.
Despite the fact Canada had played the World No. 1 tough a few times during the season, the Black Ferns proved to be overwhelming, taking down Canada 33-7.
“I thought we had some good moments for sure against New Zealand in the first seven minutes,” said coach Jack Hanratty following the loss. “We didn’t hold onto the ball as much as we’d like to, and didn’t hit the goals and targets we set out for ourselves.”
Three-time Olympian Charity Williams scored Canada’s lone try in the game.
Canada’s record now sits at 1-1. They will face off against China on Monday and can qualify for the knockout round with a win.
Canada currently sits in third place in Pool A with an identical record to second place China, but is 13 points behind on point differential. The top two teams in each pool automatically qualify for the knockout round, while the two best teams placed third in their pools will also qualify.
At Tokyo 2020, Canada’s women’s rugby sevens team did not advance from the group stage.
The match against China tomorrow will start at 10 a.m. EST.
