Canada, Australia, France and New Zealand in the semi-finals
Canada, Australia, France and New Zealand have advanced to the semi-finals of the HSBC SVNS Madrid tournament after a day of upsets in the grand final in Madrid. Canada pulled off an upset by beating New Zealand, then recorded a narrow win over Great Britain in overtime.
Canada ended a 27-game losing streak against New Zealand with a 26-17 win, then went into overtime to defeat Great Britain 22-17 to secure first place in the tournament.
Despite its loss to Canada, New Zealand qualified for the semi-finals with a landslide victory over the United States 38-0. The New Zealanders will face an Australian team in good form, while Canada will face title winners France.
In the HSBC SVNS Championship, China defeated Poland 40-0, going undefeated in the group stage and qualifying to face Belgium, another promising Challenger team. Spain faces South Africa, Japan faces Argentina, and Brazil faces Poland. Places for HSBC SVNS 2025 are up for grabs.
HSBC SVNS Women's Bank
Baraka A
Tries by Charity Williams, Olivia Apps and Piper Logan gave Canada an unexpected 21-0 lead over New Zealand at the break. A fourth try from Keyara Wardley increased their lead. Although Stacey Waka, Jorja Miller and Jazmine Felix-Hotham fought back, a handball from the Black Ferns Sevens dashed their hopes of an equalizer, allowing Canada to pick up its first win over New Zealand since 2016 (26-17).
Canada also took a halftime lead in its second match against Great Britain, but tries by Lauren Turley and Heather Coyle sent the game into overtime. Great Britain resisted valiantly, but Canada continued to advance stage after stage, until Wardley scored the golden try (22-17).
It has been a tough campaign in Madrid for Great Britain, who were beaten 14-12 by the United States earlier in the day. After leading 12-7 thanks to a Jasmine Joyce double, Britain found themselves trailing after a recovered error from Meg Jones, allowing Steve Rovetti to give her side the lead. The United States, which had possession with seconds left, miscommunicated and punted, giving Great Britain one last offensive chance. But a poorly adjusted discharge ended their hopes of victory.
In the final game of the day, Jorja Miller scored twice and New Zealand got back on track with a 38-0 win over the United States.
Baraka b
Madison Levy scored seven tries on day two as Australia remained unbeaten in Group Two.
In the first half, Australia outscored Fiji 24-7 at half-time thanks to a brace from Levy, who added a third try shortly after half-time. Kaitlyn Schiff gave Australia a fifth try and won 31-12.
Levy was vital again against France, scoring four tries in the 28-14 win. Anne-Cécile Ciofani and Lou Noel both scored in the first seven minutes to put Australia within one try of the first half, but they failed to pull away in the second half.
France won their first match of the day against Ireland 31-5, who themselves rallied to a 26-19 win over Fiji, although this was not enough for a place in the semi-finals.
HSBC SVNS Women's Dam
Baraka A
Thanks to braces from Yan Meiling and Chen Qiye, China crushed Poland 40-0 in their final group match. After achieving three wins in three matches, China finished at the top of Group A and will face Belgium on Sunday in the knockout match.
After losing to China on the opening day, Japan beat Spain 26-14, qualifying for a decisive match against Argentina on the final day. For its part, Spain will have to play a decisive match against South Africa.
Baraka b
Brazil dominated South Africa 24-0, earning a semi-final match against Poland to maintain their place as the starting team for next season.
Despite receiving two warnings in the second half, Argentina achieved a difficult victory over Belgium 19-14.