Canada rugby sevens women to meet familiar foe in Dubai in HSBC SVNS season kickoff

The Canadian women's rugby seven team leaves for Dubai early Sunday, knowing a familiar foe awaits when the 2025 HSBC SVNS season kicks off Nov. 30.

After games against Japan and Brazil, Canada wraps up Pool C play against New Zealand at the Emirates Dubai 7s. It's the first meeting between the two since the Blacks Ferns Sevens' 19-12 victory July 30 in the gold-medal game at the Paris Olympics.

"They have been for the last decade the measuring stick of women's sevens," Canada coach Jocelyn Barrieau said of New Zealand. "Everybody's aiming for them. We certainly are."

The Dubai event is the first in charge for Barrieau, who took over when Jack Hanratty stepped down after the Olympics to coach the University of Ottawa women’s team.

She calls it her dream job.

"But such a big dream that I never even thought I'd have it," she said. "It's been great."

The Montreal native started as an assistant coach in May 2023, joining Rugby Canada after six years as coach of the Concordia University women's team and four years at the helm of the Dawson College women’s team.

Barrieau has been a leader in women’s rugby in Quebec, helping establish the province's under-18 and senior women’s sevens programs and serving as technical director for Quebec’s U-16 and U-18 women’s 15s programs.

Dubai is the first of seven tournaments for the 12 women's and 12 men's teams on the HSBC SVNS circuit. After Dubai, the series goes to Cape Town (South Africa), Perth (Australia), Vancouver (Feb. 21-23), Hong Kong and Singapore before wrapping up May 3-4 in Carson, Calif.

The Singapore event will crown the SVNS season winners before the top eight men's and women's take part in the winner-takes-all world championship at California's Dignity Health Sports Park. The 2028 Olympic rugby sevens venue will also host the promotion/relegation playoff which the Canadian men hope to qualify for through World Rugby's second-tier Challenger Series.

The Canadian women finished fifth in the standings last season before losing 26-14 to New Zealand in June in Madrid in the third-place game. Australia won the women's title, defeating France 26-7.

The Canadian men won't be part of the new season. They dropped out in June after being beaten 22-14 by Spain in a relegation decider in Madrid.

They started their climb back up the rugby sevens ladder Friday with a 29-0 win over Guyana at the Rugby Americas North (RAN) Sevens in Trinidad.

Barrieau's Dubai roster includes four players from the Paris Olympic squad: Piper Logan, Carissa Norsten, Asia Hogan-Rochester and Shalaya Valenzuela. Shoshanah Seumanutafa, Pamphinette Buisa and Hogan-Rochester return from action with the Canadian 15s team.

Valenzuela, Adia Pye and Savannah Bauder are coming off a U-Sports championship with the UBC Thunderbirds while Maya Addai was with the runner-up University of Victoria Vikes.

Twelve of the 14 players chosen took part in last Sunday's Premier Rugby Sevens (PR7s) All-Star Tournament in Portland, where Canada defeated the PR7s All-Stars 27-0 and the U.S. 26-5.

Logan captained the team in Portland.

"An absolute world-class player … Any team would love to have her," said Barrieau.

Both Canadian sevens squads have decentralized, allowing players to choose their own home base. Rugby Canada also continues to share the talent between sevens and 15s sides.

The organization's motto is "One squad," with a goal of giving "the best players … the best opportunities to compete at the highest levels in both sevens and 15s," said Barrieau.

Barrieau and men's sevens coach Sean White say the move to decentralize — both teams were previously based out of Langford, B.C. — was not a financial move but one designed to allow players to live their own lives when not playing.

"Happier people make happier rugby players," said Barrieau.

"There wasn't a great interest of people coming back into the centralized environment after the (Paris) games," she added.

The other members of the Paris silver-medal squad are still with the program, with some playing 15s with club sides in England.

Barrieau expects to rotate players throughout the season, given 2025 is the first year of the new quadrennial.

She points to Bauder and Carmen Izyk as new faces to watch as the season opens.

After Dubai, the Canadian women head to South Africa for the Dec. 7-8 Cape Town event.

Kenya and Uruguay join the men's field this season, with Samoa also relegated. The China women also won promotion, replacing South Africa.

Olympic champion France is the reigning SVNS men's champion, having defeated SVNS league winners Argentina to claim the title.

Canada Roster

Breanne Nicholas, Blenheim, Ont., Kent Havoc RFC; Carmen Izyk, High River, Alta., Rugby Club Toulon Provence Méditerranée (France); Piper Logan, Calgary, UBC; Camille Arvin-Bérod, Saint-Denis-Sur-Richelieu, Que., Lons Section Paloise (France); Carissa Norsten, Waldheim, Sask., University of Victoria; Maya Addai, Ottawa, University of Victoria; Adia Pye, Victoria, UBC; Shoshanah Seumanutafa, White Rock, B.C., Counties Manukau (New Zealand); Shalaya Valenzuela, Abbotsford, B.C., Abbotsford RFC; Asia Hogan-Rochester, Toronto, Westshore RFC; Savannah Bauder, North Vancouver, UBC; Mahalia Robinson, Fulford, Que., Town of Mount Royal RFC; Monique Coffey, Ethebert, Man., Acadia University; Pamphinette Buisa, Gatineau, Que., Ottawa Irish.

HSBC SVNS Core Teams

Women: New Zealand, Australia, France, U.S., Canada, Fiji, Ireland, Great Britain, Japan, Brazil, Spain, China.

Men: Argentina, Ireland, New Zealand, Australia, France, Fiji, South Africa, Britain, U.S., Spain, Uruguay, Kenya.

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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 22, 2024

Neil Davidson, The Canadian Press