Canada down under for season prep

Canada are in the Gold Coast where they will play three matches against WSWS runners-up Australia in this weekend’s Gold Coast Sevens, which is the first event in the Men’s HSBC Sevens World Series. After the Gold Coast Sevens, the team will travel to Sydney where they will compete in the Central Coast Sevens.

While there are no Olympic qualifying ramifications with these matches, Canada’s head coach John Tait doesn’t expect his team to just soak up the sun while down south.

“We will be using this tour as an opportunity to trial some combinations and train against top opposition ahead of the series events,” said Tait.

“The stakes are high to the players looking to push themselves forward in selection ahead of Dubai. We gave a clear message at the start of this preseason that every spot is up for contention and that on-field performance is the foundation that selections will be based from.”

Tait will be travelling to Australia with 18 players.

“We are pretty healthy right now,” said Tait. “The players have been training very hard and the support staff have been excellent at getting their programming right with so many of them competing throughout the summer. Nearly everyone in the entire group was involved in one of those, so getting them all back to sevens form and on the same page for the season ahead has been our main focus.”

Tait says this tour is all about game preparation and the 18 players travelling will have lots of opportunity to compete at the Gold Coast Sevens. Along with playing the three matches, Canada will spend the week training with the Australians. The head coach will then select a team to play in the Central Coast Sevens, one that will be similar to the one he names for the first leg of the WSWS in Dubai.

For the second straight season, Canada finished last year third in the WSWS standings, one place behind Australia. While they have yet to top them in the standings, Canada finished 2013-14 with a 2-3 record against the Wallaroos.

“We have contrasting styles of play and have exchanged results over the past couple of seasons,” said Tait.

“This will give us more exposure to their style of play as well as getting more of our players a chance to measure themselves against a top outfit like them. The Australians are always cutting edge in the way the game trends and playing them three times, as well as having some joint sessions, will give us further insight in the way another top team approaches the competition phase in our season.”

Gold Coast Sevens Schedule

Day One – Saturday, October 11, 2014

All games to be streamed LIVE (link to be released on game day).

Canada vs. Australia at 9:30 am local time (7:30 pm ET on Friday/4:30 pm PT on Friday)

Canada vs. Australia at 4:51 pm local time (2:51 am ET/ 11:51 pm PT on Friday)

Day Two – Sunday, October 12, 2014

Canada vs. Australia at 1:49 pm local time (11:49 pm ET on Saturday/8:49 pm PT on Saturday)

Canada’s Women’s in Australia – Name, (Club) HometownElissa Alarie - (Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue Rugby Club) Trois-Rivieres, QCEmily Belchos - (Markham Irish RFC) Barrie, ONHannah Darling – (Peterborough Pagans) Warsaw, ONArielle Dubissette-Borrice - (Toronto Scottish RFC) Toronto, ONBianca Farella - (Town of Mount Royal RFC) Montreal, QCPaige Farries - (Druid RFC) Red Deer, ABJulia Greenshields - (Sarnia Saints) Sarnia, ONMagali Harvey - (Club de Rugby Quebec) Quebec City, QCSara Kaljuvee - (Toronto Scottish RFC) Pickering, ONJennifer Kish - (Edmonton Rockers RFC) Edmonton, ABGhislaine Landry - (Toronto Scottish RFC) Toronto, ONKayla Mack - (Wild Oats RFC) Saskatoon, SKMandy Marchak - (Capilano RFC) Winnipeg, MBKayla Moleschi - (Williams Lake Rustlers) Williams Lake, BCKaren Paquin - (Club de Rugby Quebec) Quebec City, QCNadia Popov (Aurora Barbarians) Newmarket, ONKelly Russell - (Toronto Nomads) Bolton, ONAshley Steacy – (Lethbridge Rugby Club) Lethbridge, AB