PERTH — Canada's Savannah Bauder will miss this week's HSBC SVNS Perth tournament after sustaining an injury in training.
Rugby Canada declined to elaborate on the injury when asked for more details.
Bauder, from North Vancouver, helped UBC to the U-Sports women's rugby championship with an 8-3 win over the Victoria Vikes in Charlottetown in early November.
The Canadian women open Pool B play Thursday night against Britain before facing Fiji on Friday and U.S. on Saturday at HBF Park.
Canada coach Jocelyn Barrieau took 14 players Down Under so will still be able to field a full squad.
Canada stands seventh in the overall standings after finishing eighth in the season-opening tournament in Dubai and fifth in Cape Town. The Canadian women went 1-4-0 in Dubai and 3-1-0 in Cape Town.
The U.S. stands fourth overall while Britain is fifth and Fiji 11th.
After Perth, the teams head to Vancouver for the fourth stop of the season Feb. 21-23 at B.C. Place Stadium. The circuit then moves to Hong Kong and Singapore before wrapping up May 3-4 in Carson, Calif.
The Singapore event will crown the SVNS season winners before the top eight men's and women's teams take part in the winner-takes-all world championship at California's Dignity Health Sports Park.
New Zealand currently leads the women's standings after winning in Cape Town and finishing runner-up to Australia in Dubai. The Australians, who finished fourth in Cape Town, are second ahead of France, which finished third at both events.
The Olympic silver medallist Canadian women finished fifth in the standings last season before losing 26-14 to New Zealand in June in Madrid in the third-place game. Australia won the women's title, defeating France 26-7.
Fiji leads the current men's standings, ahead of Spain, France and South Africa.
Canada's men dropped off the circuit last June after being beaten 22-14 by Spain in a relegation decider in Madrid. They are looking to climb back to the sevens' top tier via World Rugby's second-tier Challenger Series.
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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 22, 2205
The Canadian Press
