Canada’s rugby sevens team is back in more familiar territory with a silver-medal finish at the women’s sevens event in Sao Paulo.

The highlight of tournament was Sunday’s semi-final win over New Zealand, the three-time defending series champions and a team Canada never has beaten before.

The Canadians went down a try early in the match but rallied to win 19-10.

However, they weren’t able to repeat that comeback feat in the final against Australia.

In torrential rain, they went down 14 points in the first half and the Australians continued to pile on the tries until the final whistle blew and the score read 29-0. It was the first time the Canadians were held scoreless all weekend.

“It was really important to get back into the top tier,” said Canadian head coach John Tait. “The competition is only getting tougher so we needed to go out and prove again to ourselves that regardless of who we have or don’t have in our lineup right now we can compete and win tough games when we execute as a team.

“I’m particularly proud of this effort because the conditions don’t get much tougher then 38C heat and humidity.”

This second-place finish moves the Canadian women far closer to where they want to be ahead of the Olympic debut of rugby sevens in Rio.

In the opening World Series tournament in Dubai in December, where the Canadians were beset with injuries, they finished a disappointing sixth.

Second place this weekend ties them for second in the overall rankings.

The Canadian women qualified for the Rio Olympics on the strength of their second-place finish in the World Series last year, but they wanted a top-three seeding this year to ensure a better draw early on in the three-day Olympic tournament.

The third stop of the women’s five-leg series is April 8-9 in Atlanta.

The Canadian men, who have not qualified for Rio yet, have one last chance through a June tournament in Monaco.