Canadian women thumped by New Zealand in quarterfinals at Vancouver rugby 7s tournament

The Canadian women fell behind early and saw their hopes of a podium finish vanish after a 34-12 loss to rugby powerhouse New Zealand Saturday at the HSBC SVNS Vancouver.

The Black Ferns, who beat Canada in the gold-medal game at the Paris Olympics, built 24-7 halftime lead and cruised to victory. Stacey Waaka and Jorja Miller led the assault with two tries each.

Asia Hogan-Rochester and Carissa Norsten scored tries for Canada. Olivia Apps kicked the convert.

"We lost momentum from the start," said the 26-year-old Apps of Kawartha Lakes, Ont. "It's tough. They won more minutes than we did. It's a possession game and we just didn't take care of the ball when we had it."

Canada lost back Piper Logan to an injury within the first minute.

The Canadians play the U.S. on Sunday afternoon. The best the tournament hosts can finish is seventh.

"This team is really great at reacting to all the leanings that we have from every game we play," said Apps. "I'm really excited to see what we put together for tomorrow."

The women took bronze at last year's HSBC SVNS tournament in Vancouver.

Canada lost 35-14 to Australia earlier in the day. The Canadians had the hometown crowd roaring after taking a 14-0 lead with just three minutes gone but then were overpowered by Australia's speed and muscle.

Florence Symonds and Alysa Corrigan scored tries for Canada. Apps converted both.

"We came out with a lot of energy," said Symonds, a 22-year-old from Vancouver. "In the second half we were defending for a lot of phases. It gets tiring. We just couldn't hold them anymore."

Tia Hinds led Australia with two tries and three converts.

In the other women's quarterfinals, Japan rallied to defeat the U.S. 22-17 in overtime, Fiji rolled over Brazil 46-0,