Canadian Rugby Sevens Team

Vancouver is a stop on the World Rugby Sevens Series tour. The Canada Sevens is a three-day tournament featuring top rugby teams from around the globe.

Rugby fans and sports enthusiasts likely won’t want to miss this event. The tour returned to Vancouver from February 21st to 23rd in 2025. Organizers will confirm the tour’s exact dates in 2026.

Other events that usually happen over that same weekend include the Just for Laughs Vancouver comedy festival, the Earlybird RV Show in Abbotsford, FAN EXPO Vancouver, and the Vancouver International Wine Festival. There is also Love Lights at Capilano Suspension Bridge.

See Vancouver’s February Calendar to learn about other events happening this month. Continue reading for information about the rugby games.

This article contains the following information about Rugby Sevens in Vancouver:

Vancouver’s Canada Rugby Sevens

This year there were 12 men’s and 12 women’s teams competing in Vancouver in the Rugby Sevens Tournament. The men’s and women’s competitions took place simultaneously over three days, with more than 60 matches in total.

The 2024-2025 Rugby Sevens Series consisted of seven tournaments in seven countries. It began in Dubai on November 30th and December 1st, 2024, and ended with the Grand Final in Los Angeles on May 3rd and 4th, 2025. Vancouver was the third stop in the series.

The event has a party-like atmosphere. A lot of the seating is un-assigned, so those in attendance can move around the stadium. Many people who attend also visit the bars around the stadium during the day, before going back inside to watch more rugby.

Team Canada at the Rugby Sevens — Team Canada at Practice

The Teams at the Event

There were 24 teams participating at the Vancouver Rugby Seven Series this year.

The women’s side had 12 teams. They were Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Fiji, France, Great Britain, Ireland, Japan, New Zealand, Spain and the United States.

The men’s side also had 12 teams. They were Argentina, Australia, Fiji, France, Great Britain, Ireland, Kenya, New Zealand, South Africa, Spain, the United States and Uruguay.

Sadly, Canada was relegated from the series in 2023-2024. They’ll have the chance to gain promotion back to the top-level in a separate tournament this season. The Canadian men, however, played a few exhibition games for the home crowd over the course of the tournament.

Ticket Prices

Ticket prices depend on when you buy them, if you want reserved seats, and if you want to go for one day, two days or the entire weekend. Continue reading below for tournament packages and prices.

The prices below were for standard ticket pricing at the 2025 event. Tickets purchased before February 6th had early bird pricing, which was around $5 to $40 cheaper, depending on what level of ticket you bought.

For single-day passes, going to the event on Friday was noticeably cheaper than going on the Saturday or Sunday. The upside of going on the weekend, however, was that’s when the playoffs and medal games happened.

General Admission

These tickets allow you to sit wherever you wanted within the General Admission area but your seats aren’t reserved and anyone can take them if you decided to leave and come back later.

One Day Pass – $65+
Saturday and Sunday – $190+
Full Tournament – $205+

Reserved Seats

These seats are designated seats saved for ticket holders for the entire weekend. They ensure that you are always sitting with your group in the same spot with amazing views of the field.

Reserved Seating:

- One Day Pass – $70+
- Saturday and Sunday – $200+
- Full Tournament – $225+

Sideline Seating:

- One Day Pass – $110+
- Saturday and Sunday – $225+
- Full Tournament – $275+

Premium Tickets

These seats each have their own perks such as private lounges, private bars and/or in-seat food services. Check the official website to see the specific extras included in each type of ticket.

Elite and Club:

- One Day Pass – $160+
- Full Tournament – $440+

Fieldside Premium:

- One Day Pass – $320+
- Full Tournament – $850+

Canada's Rugby Sevens Coach

The Rugby Sevens Schedule

Each game lasts for about 16 to 20 minutes, so they are very short. Games start almost immediately after the other. Each game is divided into two seven-minute halves with a two-minute half-time in the middle.

Below were the general times for when the games started and ended in 2025.

Friday, February 21st, 2025

The day’s first game is a men’s clash between Uruguay and Fiji. They kicked off at 11:18 am. The Canadian men’s team played an exhibition match against Trinidad and Tobago a little later on at 1:30 pm. The next session of men’s fixtures began at 4:45 pm, with USA playing against Fiji. Canada concluded the men’s side at 6:57 pm with another exhibition against Japan.

The women’s side of the tournament opened at 2:00 pm with a match between Japan and Fiji. Team Canada took on Brazil at 3:28 pm, which was the penultimate women’s match of the afternoon. Great Britain opened the evening games with a match against Japan at 7:30 pm. The Canadian women were up against Spain at 8:58 pm, which was just before the final match of the day.

Saturday, February 22nd, 2025

On the Saturday, the men’s games started at 10:30 am with a clash between USA and Uruguay. Canada played Trinidad and Tobago again at 3:30 pm, and against Japan again at 6:19 pm.

Team Canada’s women’s team played at 3:08 pm against Australia. Matchups after that depended on the standings. The final match of the day began at 8:38 pm.

Sunday, February 23rd, 2025

The Sunday games started at 10:50 am and finished before 6:00 pm. Since this was the last day of the tournament there were lots of knockout games to enjoy in both the women’s and men’s sides.

The bronze medal matches were at 4:05 pm and 4:33 pm. The men’s final started at 5:05 pm and the women’s final kicked off at 5:41 pm. Medal presentations took place at the end of each of the finals.

What is Rugby Sevens?

Rugby Sevens is played at a faster pace than standard rugby. There are seven players on each team on the field at once (as opposed to 15), and they play seven-minute halves with just a two-minute break in between.

Scoring happens more frequently in Sevens as the field is still the same size as standard rugby, despite having fewer players. As well, the short length of the games means that many of the matches can be played back-to-back.

Team Canada Practice Video

We got to see the Canadian men’s team practicing at BC Place Stadium on September 17th in 2021 (so the day before the 2021 tournament). The following video is of what we saw.