Canadian women's rugby 7s team looks to sustain Olympic success

The Rio Olympics catapulted women's rugby sevens to national attention when Canada won bronze.

Almost a year later, the challenge is whether the momentum the sport in Canada gained from that medal can be moved forward.

The team will play the sixth and final leg of the World Rugby Women's Sevens Series in France June 24-25. Sixteen countries have participated in this year's series. For each tournament, there are 11 core teams, including Canada, plus one qualifier.

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Canada sits tied for second with Australia at 82 points. New Zealand is well ahead in first at 96 points, and only a disaster — finishing ninth or worse — would drop them from top spot.

The Canadians are guaranteed a top-three finish in the series, so the greatest intrigue in France will be the battle for second between two competitive teams. The Australians will be seeking revenge after Canada won the Sydney leg of the series.

Built for the fan

Head coach John Tait thinks the final tournament will serve as a showcase for the sport.

"It's built more for the North American sports fan, in terms of speed and pace of the game," Tait said. "There's less players out there [than in 15s] so you see a lot more of the athleticism."

Tait saw Rio as the perfect springboard, because that speed and pace could finally be unveiled to a Canadian audience that had likely never even heard of the sport.

"It was massive to introduce it to sports fans," Tait said. "The fact that it was on television back home, [it was a] chance for people who've never seen it before."

Those people might have been hooked for two weeks in August, but the key in the year following Rio is to capitalize on the success before it's forgotten.

"I think Rio was definitely the peak but even since then there's just more and more interest and awareness that there's that avenue," Tait said. "Rugby Canada has a job to do now to give [young] athletes a sevens pathway to go on."

Appeal to women

One athlete that has been on the rugby path from a young age is Ghislaine Landry. The 29-year-old Torontonian, named team captain in February, made the switch from 15s to sevens in 2007 for a year before moving over full-time in 2011. Landry was integral to the bronze-medal team in Rio. Then at last year's World Rugby Women's Sevens Series, she became the first non-New Zealander in series history to finish as its scoring leader.

Landry said that part of her reason to switch from 15s was that members of the sevens team get financial support through CAN Fund, while most 15s players have to hold other jobs.

For women, it's one of few avenues for athletes looking to play contact sports.

"There's a lot more professional sports for men so I think rugby, we're playing catch-up in terms of getting all the youths to play the sport," Landry said.

Not to mention, rugby is the only sport that has the same rules for women as it does men.

"It's kind of liberating because for so long you watch the guys do it and you look at other sports and the contact rules are different, and for rugby it's the exact same for men and women," Landry said. "All the same rules, same-sized field, same-sized ball and I like that part of the sport."

Going forward

Landry agreed with Tait that sevens is growing, but it needs to keep being pushed to viewers to keep potential athletes interested.

"I think in the last two years we've already seen massive growth, especially wrapped around the Olympics," she said. "I'd like to say that it'll keep going, but unless people are watching the game it's hard to get that, so that's kind of our priority right now."

Heading into France, Canada's ambitions are twofold. In the short term, they need to outlast Australia in the final leg of the World Series and clinch second place. Canada won in France last year, so they should be feeling confident as the tournament approaches.

Long term, Canada must keep the pipeline fresh with women interested in playing sevens and competing at the highest level. For Tait, that means building community pathways from a young age to teach women understanding and awareness of the game.

"If we want to keep up with the Australias and New Zealands of the world, that's what we need to really invest in now," he said.