Canadian women miss out on Dubai rugby sevens semifinals after costly loss to Japan

DUBAI – Japan rallied with two late tries to defeat Canada 21-19 on Saturday and move into the semifinals of the Emirates Dubai 7s, the opening event of the HSBC SVNS series, at the expense of the Canadian women.

Japan, which trailed 19-7 with less than two minutes remaining, faces New Zealand in semifinal play, while Canada takes on France in the fifth-place semifinal.

The new HSBC SVNS format sees the eight-team field split into two groups with the top two in each advancing to the semifinals. The bottom two in each pool are consigned to placement games.

Dubai is the first of nine events on the elite HSBC SVNS circuit. After Dubai, the Canadian women head to South Africa for the Dec. 6-7 stop in Cape Town.

In earlier Group B play, Canada defeated Britain 41-5 and lost 24-17 to five-time Dubai champion Australia. Japan beat Britain 36-5 and fell 31-7 to Australia.

Australia, which thumped Britain 55-0 for its third win of the day, will face Fiji in the semifinals.

With the Australian women already assured of topping the group, the Canada-Japan match determined who would finish runner-up and join them in the semifinals.

It looked good for Canada until the last 90 seconds.

Charity Williams, Krissy Scurfield and Kennedi Stevenson scored tries for Canada, which led 12-7 at the half. Asia Hogan-Rochester added a conversion

Williams opened the scoring, outmuscling a Japanese player to get to the ball after a Japan kick before turning on the jets to score under the posts. Scurfield then powered her way over for a second try.

Japan’s Mei Ohtani scored under the posts at the strike of halftime to cut the lead to 12-7.

Stevenson scored her first HSBC SVNS try to open the second half, cutting through the Japan defence for a 19-7 lead.

Yume Hirano scored with 90 seconds remaining to move Japan with five points. A Canadian turnover gave Japan a second chance and Ohtani touched down under the posts with 35 seconds remaining, with Hirano’s conversion nudging Japan ahead.

With the clock winding down, Japan’s ensuing kickoff bounced into touch to end the match. The win was only Japan’s fourth in 14 meetings with Canada.

Adia Pye scored on debut against Britain with Canada’s other tries coming from captain Carissa Norsten, Hogan-Rochester, Pamphinette Buisa, Breanne Nicholas, Eden Kilgour and Savannah Bauder. Hogan-Rochester added three conversions.

Pye travelled with the team to Dubai last season but did not see action.

Williams scored two tries and Pye added another in the loss to Australia. Canada trailed 10-7 at half, scoring two tries late in the second half.

Canada fell to 14-31-1 against Australia on the sevens circuit.

World Rugby has revamped the HSBC SVNS format, reducing the field to just eight men’s and eight women’s teams for the first six events of the season — including the March 7-8 stop in Vancouver. The field will then expand for the final three stops, with promotion-relegation in the table.

The Canadian men, relegated in June 2024, are still looking to climb their way back into the top tier.

The men had hoped to reclaim their place via a promotion-relegation playoff series in May after climbing out of the second-tier Challenger Series. But World Rugby rejigged the entire sevens series structure ahead of the season-ending tournament in California, taking promotion off the table.

Having just won the Rugby Americas North (RAN) Sevens in Trinidad, the Canadian men continue their climb up the sevens ladder at the HSBC SVNS 3 on Jan. 17-18 in Dubai.

The Canadian women finished eighth in Dubai last December. They followed that by placing fifth in Cape Town, fourth in Perth, seventh in Vancouver and third in both Hong Kong and Singapore to stand fourth overall in the six-event regular-season standings in advance of the HSBC SVNS Championship in May.

Australia was second at the May finale while Japan placed sixth and Britain seventh.

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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 29, 2025