The fourth stop on the HSBC SVNS series, the Vancouver 2024 rugby sevens tournament is taking place Feb. 23-25 at BC Place in Vancouver and Team Canada will feature two players with strong ties to the Cowichan Valley.
Queen Margaret’s School (2021) and MacDowell Rugby Academy product Carissa Norsten, of Waldheim, Sask. will sport No. 19 for the women, while Brentwood College School graduate Matt Percillier of Mill Bay will wear No. 88 for the men.
Neither player is a stranger to the Canadian rugby sevens programs as both were on the rosters that medalled at the most recent Pan American Games, held Oct. 20-Nov. 5, 2023 in Santiago, Chile. Norsten and the women earned the silver medal by losing 19-12 to Team USA in the final game. Percillier and the men also faced Team USA in the medal round, beating them 19-17 to win bronze.
Headed into the fourth series of seven HSBC SVNS series stops, the Canadian women find themselves in the middle of the 12-team pack, sixth overall behind Australia, New Zealand, France, Ireland and the USA. The men are 11th with only Great Britain behind them. Argentina, Fiji and Australia currently lead the men’s series.
The first round of the HSBC SVNS series was played in Dubai on Dec. 1-3, 2023 and the women placed fourth and the men, 12th. From there they travelled to Cape Town, South Africa on Dec. 8-10 where the women were sixth and the men placed seventh. From South Africa to Perth, Australia for round three on Jan. 26-28, Team Canada’s women were seventh and the men 12th.
Following all seven rounds of the HSBC SVNS 2024 campaign, the top eight teams of each gender will move on to compete in the Grand Final in Madrid, Spain where champions will be crowned. The eighth through 12th ranked teams will also play in Madrid, but in the high-stakes relegation play-offs to determine final rankings and to play for spots in the HSBC SVNS 2025 series.