Day 1
The Vancouver Sevens kicked off with an exciting start. The first match Friday morning to kick off the tournament saw Fiji’s men’s team have a dominant 38-12 victory over Uruguay. Into the continuation of an exciting morning of matches, Spain Had two tries in a minute to take the lead over Team USA. Argentina then took the first blowout of the tournament beating Kenya 24-0.
The Canada Mens’ team, an invitational team to the Vancouver tournament, came out to play with fire. Scoring a try within the first minute, the men then went on to defeat Trinidad and Tobago 55-12.
The women's pools began midday on Friday, with Japan taking a 19-14 victory over Fiji. This marks the third time Japan has ever beaten Fiji, with previous wins in the 2020 and 2013 series.
The Canadian women started their tournament off with a match against Brazil. Charity Williams did her iconic somersault into the end zone for her 100th career try within the first minute of the match to make history. “ I’m really happy to be able to get the job done, especially do it at home” Williams said of her achievement.
Canada’s men team went on to win their second game of the day 33-12 against Japan. While the women then beat Spain 41-5 as the second to last game on Day one of the tournament.
“It’s an unreal experience walking out here in front of some home fans,” said Brenden Black, a player on Canada’s men's team “really feeling the love from the crowd”.
Day 2
To open day two of the tournament, Uruguay had a close match but ultimately had the 10-7 win over team USA’s men. Later, last-ranked team Ireland put up a good fight to the 7th ranked New Zealand All-Blacks but fell short in a 31-21 loss.
The women's matches of the day saw surprising results. Team China stunned team Ireland with a 29-0 defeat, while that was not the only shutout of the day, New Zealand followed to beat the USA 37-0 in their next match.
To end off the regulation matches the Canadian women unfortunately fell 35-14 to Australia, forcing them to face off against New Zealand in the quarter cup finals at the end of the night. They unfortunately met with defeat again with a score of 34-12 at full time, dropping them into a battle for seventh place against the USA on Sunday.
In the Canadian double header of the day the Men’s Canadian team took the pitch right after the women’s game. Securing a knockout 50-0 win over Trinidad and Tobago, followed by a 51-12 victory over Japan later in the evening. These wins crowned them as the Vancouver Sevens Invitational Champions.
A historic moment was made on Saturday as the Japan’s women’s team qualified for the very first ever HSBC sevens semi-final. They beat the USA women's team 22-17 in order to qualify.
With the stage set for the playoffs it’s on to the last day of the tournament, where for the first time in history the women's gold medal game will be closing out the tournament.
Day 3
Sunday morning teams faced off in high-stake matches to see who would eventually win the Vancouver Sevens. With a defeat over the men’s Fiji team, South Australia was on their way to the cup finals to face Argentina. The women's division was shaken up with the 11th place Fiji Team advancing to the cup finals to play against the number one New Zealand women.
Just days after the Four Nations Face off championship, Canada and USA meet again. Competing for seventh place, Canada scored a try on the first drive to take the lead just. Team Canada won the game 27-10 as all of BC place cheered along.
In the men's Final Cup, South Africa faced off against argentina. These two teams have met 6 times before in a cup final and South Africa has never lost, Until today. In a hard fought battle between the two teams, Argentina were the ones to come out as victors with a close 19-12 win.
The weekend concluded with the women's final cup,with New Zealand and Fiji taking to the field. New Zealand wasted no time, scoring a try within the first minute and continued that momentum on throughout the game. These women have been on a 17 game win streak at BC place and have yet to lose in the stadium yet, as the women had a knockout win over Fiji, with a score of 41-7 they had their 18th straight win in vancouver. The New Zealand women hoisted the champion cup to close out an unforgettable Vancouver Sevens stop.
What a weekend of Rugby here in Vancouver.
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