Maddison Levi ruled out as Australia Sevens name squads for Vancouver

Defending HSBC SVNS Series women’s champions Australia have suffered a big blow ahead of this month’s event in Vancouver with Maddison Levi ruled out through injury. Levi suffered a thumb injury during January’s sevens stop in Perth and has since undergone surgery.

World Rugby’s 2024 Sevens Player of the Year was among the standouts during the tournament in Western Australia after scoring nine tries in four matches, which included back-to-back hat-tricks in pool stage wins over Spain and France.

Levi, 22, also crossed for a double in Australia’s dominant 35-nil win over Japan, but it was later revealed that the try-scoring phenomenon had sustained an injury in that clash. The two-time Olympian didn’t take the field on day three, with the Aussies going on to win the title.

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Australia Sevens confirmed on Friday that Levi is unavailable for the event in Vancouver on February 21-23, with another six players also injured for the women’s side. Levi, Sariah Paki (calf) and Bienne Terita (hamstring) are all aiming to return at the Hong Kong Sevens.

Bridget Clark comes into Australia’s squad as the only change from the group that took out a drought-breaking title at HBF Park. Isabella Nasser captains a star-studded side that also includes Charlotte Caslick, Teagan Levi, Tia Hinds and Demi Hayes.

“We are building as a squad and our young guns are developing well,” women’s coach Tim Walsh said in a statement.

“We have already experienced two out of three tournament wins in epic gold medal matches and will be looking for a third in Vancouver.

“In the season to date the team has shown great resilience and depth with players unavailable for selection due to injury.

“We have a handful of world-class talent building their strength in rehab back in Australia and we look forward to a few of them returning for the Hong Kong and Singapore legs of the World Series.”

The Aussie women will take on Spain, Brazil and hometown favourites Canada during pool play at BC Place Stadium. Last season, the Australians were beaten by Canada in a memorable third-place playoff, with the crowd letting out a deafening cheer of celebration at full-time.

As for the men’s side, they’ve been drawn in a mighty tough pool against Ireland, New Zealand and South Africa. They’ve only made a single change to their squad as well, with the men in gold looking to go one better after falling in the Cup final last month at SVNS Perth.

Co-captain Henry Paterson is back in the mix for the first time since December’s event in Cape Town after overcoming an ankle injury. Paterson will lead the team alongside Henry Hutchison while youngster Hadley Tonga drops out of the touring squad.

Hutchison, Hayden Sargeant and James Turner had all missed the final in Perth with injuries but have all since been cleared for take-off ahead of the trip to Canada.

“Going to Vancouver, it would be good to see some growth in our game and a consistency to performances, that’s a big one for us,” men’s coach Liam Barry explained.

“The boys certainly prepared and played well in Perth and won tight games in a competition of small margins so I hope they are realistic around where we could’ve finished and where we did.

“It’s great to have ‘Patto’ back and he will co-captain with Henry Hutchison. He hasn’t played since Cape Town but can certainly play and is a great addition to the side.”

Australia Women’s Sevens team
Piper Simons, Faith Nathan, Mackenzie Davis, Teagan Levi, Charlotte Caslick, Tia Hinds, Isabella Nasser (c), Demi Hayes, Heidi Dennis, Bridget Clark, Kahli Henwood, Ruby Nicholas, Kiiahla Duff

Australia Men’s Sevens team
Henry Hutchison (c), Ben Dowling, Henry Paterson (c), Matt Gonzalez, Ben Dalton, Maurice Longbottom, Jayden Blake, James Turner, Sid Harvey, Aden Ekanayake, Hayden Sargeant, Josh Turner, Michael Icely

Unavailable for selection due to injury

AUSTRALIA WOMEN
Maddison Levi (thumb) – Hong Kong 7s, Sariah Paki (calf) – Hong Kong 7s, Bienne Terita (hamstring) – Hong Kong 7s, Madison Ashby (knee) – 2025/2026 SVNS Series, Kaitlin Shave (knee) – 2025/2026 SVNS Series, Sidney Taylor (knee) – 2025/2026 SVNS Series, Alysia Lefau-Fakaosilea (knee) – 2025/2026 SVNS Series

AUSTRALIA MEN
Dietrich Roache (knee) – 2025/2026 SVNS Series

HSBC SVNS 2024/2025 Vancouver Schedule

AUSTRALIA WOMEN – POOL A
Saturday, February 22: Australia v Spain (10:50am AEDT)
Saturday, February 22: Australia v Brazil (4:20pm AEDT)
Sunday, February 23: Australia v Canada (10:08am AEDT)

AUSTRALIA MEN – POOL B
Saturday, February 22: Australia v Ireland (7:24am AEDT)
Saturday, February 22: Australia v New Zealand (12:51pm AEDT)
Sunday, February 23: Australia v South Africa (6:36am AEDT)