Vancouver Elite Women’s Sevens

Although only a seven-team tournament – as opposed to last weekend’s 16-team event in Las Vegas – the Vancouver Elite Women’s Sevens is likely to be a far more intense affair with few, if any, easy games for any of the teams.

France, USA, Great Britain and one of the two Canadian teams (“Red”) make up pool A, while the other Canadian (“White”) join with two predominantly North American invitational teams – Stars and Apotella – in Pool B.Full match schedule.

The leading Canadian players have been split across theirtwo squads, but “Red” is marginally stronger than “White” which is likely to mean that Pool A will be a Battle Royale between four very evenly matched teams – indeed it is, on paper, a far tougher, more closely matched, four-team pool than is normally seen in the Women’s Sevens World Series or is likely to be seen in this summer’s Olympics. France will start with confidence on their side after winning in Las Vegas, but Great Britain will want to correct that result, and the Canadians will be hoping to show their home crowd what they are capable of.

The semi-finals and final will take place in the main stadium in Vancouver during the men’s World Series, and this time will definitely be included in the worldwide feed with Sky Sports 5 in the UK already saying that they intend to show the games. Timings may vary, however, depending on the success of the Canadian teams – if either reaches the final it will be moved to just before the 3rd/4thplace game in the men’s tournament.

Apotella Angels:Andrea Birk; Amanda Thornborough; Barbara Mervin; Brittanny Orr; Emily Young; Julianne Zussman; Katie McNally; Kelsie Stockart; Lisa Gauthier; Paige Ferries; Brittany Waters; Ciara Malone

Canada Red:Britt Benn – (Guelph Redcoats) Napanee, ON; Caroline Crossley – (Castaway Wanderers) Victoria, BC; Hannah Darling – (Peterborough Pagans) Warsaw, ON; Bianca Farella – (Town of Mont Royal RFC) Montreal, QC; Emmanuela Jada (Guelph Redcoats) Guelph, ON; Sara Kaljuvee – (Toronto Scottish) Ajax, ON; Jen Kish – (Edmonton Rockers) Edmonton, AB; Ghislaine Landry – (Toronto Scottish) Toronto, ON ; Nakisa Levale - (Abbotsford, BC) ; Kayla Moleschi - (Williams Lake Rustlers) Williams Lake, BC; Kelly Russell - (Toronto Nomads) Bolton, ON

Canada White:Emily Belchos – (Markham Irish) Barrie, ON; Ashley Gordon – (Brampton Beavers) Brampton, ON; Julia Greenshields – (Sarnia Saints) Sarnia, ON; Pamphinette Buisa – (Ottawa Irish) Gatineau, QC; Megan Lukan – (Unattached) Barrie, ON; Kayla Mack – (Wild Oats) Saskatoon, SK; Mandy Marchak – (Capilano RFC) Winnipeg, MB ; Breanne Nicholas - (London St. Georges) Blenheim, ON ; Nadia Popov  – (Aurora Barbarians) Newmarket, ON; Laura Russell (Toronto Nomads) Bolton, ON; Charity Williams – (Markham Irish) Toronto, ON

France:Montserrat Amedee (Montpellier, FFR); Audrey Amiel (Stade Français, FFR); Lénaïg Corson (Rennes, FFR); Camille Grassineau (Bordeaux, FFR) ; Clémence Gueucier (Bobigny, FFR); Elodie Guiglion (FFR); Shannon Izar (Lille MRCV, FFR); Christelle Le Duff (FFR); Laurianne Lissar (AS Bayonne, FFR); Amélie Mugnier (Blagnac Saint-Orens, FFR); Chloé Pelle (Lille MRCV, FFR); Jessy Tremouliere (AS Romagnat, FFR)

Great Britain:Abbie Brown, Rachael Burford (captain), Laurie Harries, Stephanie Johnston, Jasmine Joyce, Alex Matthews, Fran Matthews, Katy Mclean, Emily Scott, Danielle Waterman, Kay Wilson, Amy Wilson Hardy

United States Falcons:Emily Azevedo;Meya Bizer;Lauren Doyle;Carmen Farmer;Irene Gardner;Nicole Heavirland;Hannah Lopez;Amy Naber;Jane Paar;Christy Ringgenberg;Richelle Stephens;Kate Zackary