Canadian rugby women down France at Singapore 7s, finish 3rd in consecutive weeks
Tries by Carissa Norsten, Shalaya Valenzuela and Fancy Bermudez lifted Canada to a 21-5 win over France at the HSBC SVNS Singapore on Sunday as the Canadian women finished third for the second week in a row on the top-tier rugby sevens circuit.
Breanne Nicholas converted all three tries for Canada, which conceded a late score by Lea Trollier.
Canada, which beat France 21-17 in the third-place game in Hong Kong last week, stands fourth in the women's season standings after six events. The French are third behind Australia and Series leader New Zealand.
The Canadian women finished eighth in Dubai, fifth in Cape Town, fourth in Perth and seventh in Vancouver before the two third-place finishes. France finished third in Dubai, Cape Town and Perth.
After topping its pool with wins over No. 6 Britain (14-5) and the eight-ranked U.S. (31-12), the Canadians were beaten 45-7 by Australia in the Cup semifinal earlier Sunday. Eden Kilgour scored the lone try for Canada, which trailed 24-0 at the half.
New Zealand then defeated Australia 31-7 to win the Singapore event, adding to tournament victories in Cape Town, Vancouver and Hong Kong and runner-up finishes to Australia in Dubai and Perth.
Australia's Maddison Levi became the fastest woman to surpass 200 tries, ending the weekend with 203 scores to her name including one in the final, which took her past Charlotte Caslick as Australia's top try-scorer in finals with 15.
Double Olympic champions Fiji won the men's event in Singapore, downing Kenya 21-12. After three successive tournament victories, Argentina's men had to settle for bronze via a 33-14 comeback win over Spain after trailing 14-0.
Singapore, the penultimate event of the season, decided the 2025 regular season winners with the New Zealand women and Argentina men confirmed as 2025 League victors on Day 1 at Singapore National Stadium.
The top eight men's and women's teams now head to Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson, Calif., to compete in the winner-take-all May 3-4 season-ending world championship.
The men's teams moving on are Argentina, Fiji, Spain, South Africa, France, New Zealand, Australia and Britain. The confirmed women's teams are Canada, New Zealand, Australia, Britain, France, Fiji, the U.S. and Japan.
Canada will play in Pool A with New Zealand, Japan and Britain.
The California finale will also feature a promotion/relegation playoff involving the top four men's and women's teams from the second-tier HSBC Sevens Challenger and the bottom four teams on the HSBC SVNS circuit.
The Canadian men, relegated last June, are set to take part in the final Challenger Series event April 11-12 in Krakow, Poland. They currently top the Challenger Series.
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