Canada Games 2025: Ontario rugby sevens men win gold on final play, women take silver

This excerpt is from the Ottawa Sport Pages newsletter covering Ottawa @ Canada Games Day 5. To sign up for the free newsletter, go to their Ottawa at the Canada Games page. For more excellent coverage from Ottawa Sports Pages, visit their website.

Ontario’s men’s and women’s rugby sevens sides both entered the day undefeated, and the women’s team continued to look unstoppable through the semi-finals with a solid 22-7 drubbing of Team Alberta. The match opened with a quick try from Ainsley McDonald of the Ottawa Irish, and finished with an end-to-end score from ShonDreya Smardon of the Barrhaven Scottish.

The men’s semifinal match proved to be more of a challenge, as a feisty Quebec team seemed unfazed that Ontario was entering the match without having ever trailed in the tournament. Quebec attacked Ontario with speed and aggression, taking an early 5-0 lead, and entered halftime holding a 12-5 lead over a stunned Ontario squad.

The second half saw Scottish players Jack Priestman, Declan Crew-Gee, and the rest of Team Ontario return to form. With a focus on ball control and steady play, Ontario executed well and maintained possession for most of the second half.

“In 15s, it’s all about keeping territory, in sevens, it’s all about possession,” Priestman noted in a pre-Games interview with the Ottawa Sports Pages’ Tyler Reis-Sanford. “No matter what you keep the ball because it’s only seven minutes (per half) and if you lose the ball that could be the game ended.”

In the end, possession won out, and Ontario moved on to the finals after scoring 19 unanswered points for a final score of 24-12.

Next up was the women’s turn to face their biggest test yet in the form of similarly undefeated British Columbia.

Barrhaven Scottish star Grace Dingwall continued to make her presence felt on the pitch, contributing on a number of key tackles and opening the scoring to put Ontario up 5-0. Shortly afterwards, the back from Nepean High School found a gap in the opposing defence, and nearly scored again before being taken down by a desperate toe-tapping tackle. The space Dingwall created quickly led to another score on the wing, and Ontario looked confident entering halftime up 10-0.

The second half proved to be more difficult for Ontario, which fell a step behind the B.C. attack. In the end, B.C. managed to storm back into the game, pouring on 22 straight points to claim gold.

For the final match at Swilers Rugby Club, the men went up against the same challenge the women faced, another undefeated B.C. team. Unlike the women however, the men’s side started slow but finished fast.

The game opened with B.C. beating Ontario at their own game, recovering their own kickoffs and starving Ontario of possession, just like Ontario did to Quebec. On the back foot, Ontario went down 12-0 early, before a yellow card at the end of the first half turned Ontario’s fortunes, earning them a penalty try and a man advantage to open the second half.

Priestman entered the game just moments into the second half to replace injured captain Adam Dome, and made a number of key tackles in the final frame of the tournament.

In the end, it was a last-second try from Brock University’s Koen Shroeder that put Team Ontario on top. The score came on the very last play of the game, off of a turnover from British Columbia.