By The Canadian Press

Canadian men continue their climb back up the rugby sevens ladder with Dubai win

Jan 18, 2026 | 8:23 AM

DUBAI — The Canadian men continued their climb back up the rugby sevens ladder Sunday, winning an HSBC SVNS Division 3 challenger event.

It took some late heroics in their semifinal against Hong Kong to earn promotion to the three-event HSBC SVNS 2 series. With only the two finalists moving on, Canada needed to get past Hong Kong.

Canada opened the scoring with an Elias Hancock try and led 7-5 at the half at The Sevens Stadium. Captain Lockie Kratz extended the lead to 14-5 early in the second half, only to see Hong Kong pull ahead 19-14 on a pair of converted tries.

Adam Doane pulled Canada even at 19-19 with a 13th-minute try, forcing extra time. Thomas Isherwood then scored two minutes later to give the Canadians a 24-19 golden-point win.

That set up a final with Belgium, which upset previously unbeaten Samoa 26-14 in the other semifinal. The Belgians had finished runner-up to Canada in Pool B, despite winning their group-stage game 19-15.

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Canada never trailed in the rematch, leading 14-10 at the half on pair of Kratz tries with Jack Shaw and Ethan Turner adding second-half tries for a 28-10 win.

On Saturday, the Canadians sandwiched wins over Italy (33-7) and Madagascar (24-17) around the Belgium loss.

The stand-alone SVNS 3 tournament featured eight men’s and eight women’s teams. The top two men’s and women’s sides earned promotion to the HSBC SVNS 2 series in Nairobi (Feb. 14-15), Montevideo (March 21-22) and Sao Paulo (March 28-29). The SVNS 2 series is one level below the elite HSBC SVNS circuit, which is home to the Canadian women.

The top four men’s and women’s teams from HSBC SVNS 2 will then join the eight HSBC SVNS core sides for the final events in Hong Kong, Valladolid, Spain, and Bordeaux, France, in April, May and June. The top eight teams over that three-event stretch will retain their core status with the bottom four relegated.

The Canadian men qualified for the HSBC SVNS Division 3 in November by winning the Rugby Americas North (RAN) Sevens tournament in Trinidad.

Canada, relegated from the top tier in June 2024, had hoped to reclaim its place via a promotion-relegation playoff series last May after climbing out of the second-tier Challenger Series. But World Rugby rejigged the entire sevens series structure ahead of the season-ending tournament in California, taking promotion off the table.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 18, 2026.

The Canadian Press