Canadian rugby women growing into role of Olympic medal contenders

Over the past year, the Canadian women’s rugby sevens team has experienced a handful of firsts.

In May, they won their first world series tournament, in Amsterdam. Two months later, they played in their first multi-sport event, the Pan American Games, and won gold. Just over a week ago, on Feb. 22, Canada got its first ever win over the powerhouse New Zealand team.

But the biggest first comes in August when the Canadian women — and the sport of sevens — make their Olympic debut at the Rio Summer Games.

“The Olympics is a massive opportunity to get more eyes on rugby and there’s a lot of people in this country that don’t even know that we have a women’s rugby team or that we’re good,” said team veteran Ghislaine Landry during a Canadian Olympic Team event in December. “It’s like we know this big secret … we think we’re so obvious and it’s out there, but there’s so many people that just don’t know.”

After the International Olympic Committee added sevens to its program in 2009, the growth of the sport globally has expedited, said John Tait, head coach of the national women’s sevens team. But even as other national teams improve as Rio nears, the Canadian women remain a team to beat.

“There are no easy games. There are certainly games we expect to win, but that expectation comes with also the expectation that we have to perform to win,” he said.

Like its 15-a-side counterpart, sevens is played on a regulation-size rugby pitch, but teams only field seven players and the game lasts just 14 minutes (a major event final is 20 minutes). The result is a fast-paced, unpredictable, physical affair. With so little time and so much space, mistakes are magnified and it’s common to see momentum swing completely within seconds.

“When it’s broadcast globally to an Olympic audience, people are just going to be gobsmacked by how exciting the game is,” said Tait.

Since they started training full-time in 2011, the women’s squad has been steadily closing the gap between themselves and top teams like New Zealand and Australia. Last season, the Canadians had their best result in the world series, finishing second overall and qualifying them for the Olympics. This season, however, got off to a disappointing start.

With key players missing because of injuries — including 2014-15 series-leading scorer Landry — Canada finished sixth in the kickoff tournament in Dubai. But in the February event in Sao Paulo, the second leg of the five-stop tour, Canada finished in the silver-medal position behind Australia.

“We didn’t perform to the best of our abilities (in Dubai) and we were very disappointed with that, but we’re also really proud with how we bounced back from that … in Sao Paulo,” said team veteran Kelly Russell. “We’re going to have those ups and downs and it’s about obviously how we can come together after them and now build off of this and stay more consistent.”

The exclamation point on Canada’s result, though, was finally topping New Zealand, which Tait likened to getting “the monkey off our back.”

“It was nice to get finally over that hump and being like, ‘look guys, we can do this,’” Russell said. “It’s been a long time coming so we’re very proud of ourselves.”

Back from Brazil, the squad has resumed training six days a week at their home base in Victoria, B.C. Their series continues in April with stops in Atlanta and a home tournament in Langford, B.C., before it wraps up in May.

And while there’s plenty of games and many steps left before Rio — a top-three finish in the world series would give them a better draw at the Olympics — team member Kayla Moleschi said August is in the back of their minds.

“We always think about it, but I think just not getting ahead of yourself and taking each day and each practice and gearing it toward those Games is what’s getting us further and further as a team,” she said.

Throughout the years, Moleschi and teammates have hit benchmarks on their Olympic journey, including a second-place finish at the 2013 World Cup along with the gold at the Pan Am Games in July. With a long season in a grueling sport, the team has always aimed to peak at the right times. The Olympics would certainly be another ideal moment, their coach said.

“Every year’s been kind of a little bit of a mini-rehearsal for this year and our staff has done an excellent job – our support staff, strength and conditioning, nutrition and stuff — to make sure we really peak for the right moments and certainly Rio’s that biggest moment that we’re looking to peak for,” Tait said.

Rigorous conditioning and training, as well as series matches, can prepare them for the tough opposition they’ll face in Rio. But the off-field stuff, the spectacle of a world-class event, not to mention entering as a gold-medal favourite, will be unfamiliar territory for the Canadian squad.

Russell said the team works with their sports psychologist to prepare for the mental side of the event. The Pan Am Games was also a taste, albeit a small one.

“The Pan Ams this last summer was so important to our development and kind of like gave us insight to what it could be like on a smaller scale,” she said. “I thought it was something special and it was very exciting to be a part of. It makes you look forward really to being involved at the grander scale of the Olympics as well.”

As for when Rio finally comes around, team Canada has another first on their mind.

“It’ll be really tough cause there’s going to be a lot of really good teams there and obviously everyone’s battling for that same goal, but I think we’re definitely huge contenders,” Moleschi said. “That gold-medal game – that 20-minute final is what we’re gearing for.”