The most telling moments will soon be at hand for the Langford-based Canadian women’s and men’s rugby sevens teams. Both national squads are in Singapore this weekend for the final HSBC World Series tournament of the season.
Next up for the Canadian women is the World Series Grand Final in Madrid followed by the 2024 Paris Olympic Games. The Canadian men are preparing for the last-chance Olympic qualifier for Paris that takes place June 21-23 in Monaco.
The world-No. 5 Canadian women’s team in Singapore features University of Victoria Vikes players Carissa Norsten, Krissy Scurfield and Shalaya Valenzuela, and opened with a 5-0 loss to Ireland before Norsten scored two tries and Scurfield one in a 28-5 victory over Spain.
Canada concluded pool play Saturday with a 31-7 loss to defending 2020 Tokyo Olympic champion New Zealand but still qualified for the quarter-finals, where the Canadians were beaten 24-0 by France.
Canada, which was set to play Great Britain in the seventh-place game this morning, was missing Sophie de Goede and captain Olivia Apps, who are with the Canadian XVs team that is playing in the Pacific Four Series. That left veterans such as Breanne Nicholas, Julia Greenshields and Charity Williams, the latter the last connection to the 2016 Rio Olympics bronze-medallist team, to hold down the fort in Singapore as head coach Jack Hanratty looks to hone his roster for the Paris Olympics.
“Singapore is a great opportunity for us to try some new combinations as we progress towards Madrid, and eventually Paris,” Hanratty said in a statement. “[Last] month we had the opportunity to have both our women’s XVs and sevens teams in the same location [Langford]. It was a great chance for both squads and staffs to collaborate and challenge each other.”
Canada earned its 2024 Olympic Games berth in sevens by winning the North American and Caribbean women’s qualifying tournament last August at Starlight Stadium.
The world-No. 12 Canadian men gave two powerhouses all they could handle to open the Singapore Sevens, leading 17-12 over New Zealand before the All Blacks prevailed 22-17 in extra time, and leading Australia 14-7 before the Aussies rallied to win 21-14.
The Canada performances dipped acutely after that on Saturday with a 38-0 loss to Argentina to close out pool play and a 31-7 loss to 2016 Rio and 2020 Tokyo Olympics gold-medallist Fiji.
Matthew Oworu, returning from a long injury absence, had strong outings for Canada, which was set to meet Samoa for 11th place.
“It’s been a tough season thus far, however throughout the season we were able to gain valuable experience while taking our lumps,” Canada head coach Sean White of Victoria said in a statement.
Hopefully for Canada, that pays off. Next stop is the men’s last-chance Olympic qualifier for Paris next month in Monaco, to which Canada was redirected, after finishing second to the U.S. in the North American and Caribbean Olympic qualifying tournament last summer at Starlight Stadium.
