CANADA'S WOMEN SET TO KICK OFF 2017-18 SEASON IN DUBAI

The Dubai Sevens will be streamed LIVE on CBC Sports at www.cbcsports.ca or on their mobile app "CBC Sports" on iOs and Android

DUBAI, U.A.E. - Canada’s women’s sevens team kicks off the 2017-18 HSBC World Rugby Women’s Sevens Series tomorrow at the Dubai Sevens, the first of five events on the circuit this season.

Canada enters their sixth season on the series having never finished outside of the top three in the standings, with four third-place finishes and one second-place finish in the 2014-15 season.

Some injuries to start the season forced Head coach John Tait to make some changes to his opening roster which was announced last week, as Emma Chown and Tausani Levale look set to earn their first senior team caps.

Canada will be captained once again by Ghislaine Landry this season. The Toronto, ON native finished first in series scoring last season with 269 points and enters Dubai as the WSS all-time leading scorer with 844 points. With Portia Woodman of New Zealand 134 points behind in second place, Landry can become the first player ever to reach 1,000 points on the WSS this year.

In Dubai, Canada will be grouped with Brazil, Fiji and Spain in Pool C.

While the team has had much success against all three teams over the years, it’s an interesting mix for Tait and his coaching staff.

“Every pool is challenging these days,” said Tait. “Our challenge in this pool is each team plays with very different styles and strategies, so we need to be ready to counter the loose open play of Fiji, the structured possession game Spain can play and the direct running of Ireland.”

That being said, Tait knows if his team is playing up to its standards, there shouldn’t be any worry.

“We want to be clinical with the ball we have and not let any of them have enough quality possession or any time or space to play in,” said Tait.

Despite being one of the top three teams in the world each of the last five seasons, for whatever reason Canada has struggled in Dubai. Since the inaugural 2012-13 season, Canada has finished sixth, fourth, third, sixth and sixth at the Dubai Sevens. The three sixth place finishes are tied for the second-worst showing at any event over the last five years.

“It is a tough tournament for most of the northern hemisphere teams coming from the cold and wet weather to the dry heat of Dubai,” said Tait. “Also, the southern hemisphere squads are coming out of some regional and domestic sevens and should probably have a little edge in terms of match conditioning, so we will just have to use day one to sharpen everything up to have a successful day two when we will likely see more of those teams.”

Canada may benefit from that in their first two matches, as they open the tournament against Spain and Ireland before finishing the day against Fiji.

Canada’s Dubai Sevens Roster (Name - Club, Hometown):

Britt Benn – Guelph Redcoats (Napanee, ON)

Emma Chown – Kingston Panthers (Barrie, ON)

Caroline Crossley – Castaway Wanderers (Victoria, BC)

Hannah Darling – Peterborough Pagans (Warsaw, ON)

Julia Greenshields – Sarnia Saints (Sarnia, ON)

Jen Kish – Edmonton Rockers (Edmonton, ON)

Tausani Levale – Abbotsford Griffins (Abbotsford, BC)

Ghislaine Landry – Toronto Scottish (Toronto, ON)

Megan Lukan – Unattached (Barrie, ON)

Kayla Moleschi – Williams Lake Rustlers (Williams Lake, BC)

Breanne Nicholas – London St. Georges RFC (Blenheim, ON)

Natasha Watcham-Roy – Hull Volant (Gatineau, QC)

Injured:

Bianca Farella - Town of Mount Royal RFC (Montreal, QC)

Sara Kaljuvee – Toronto Scottish (Ajax, ON)

Kaili Lukan - Unattached (Barrie, ON)

Charity Williams - Markham Irish (Toronto, ON)

Canada's Dubai Sevens Day 1 Schedule (Thursday, November 30):

Canada vs Spain at 3:22 am ET / 12:22 am PT

Canada vs Ireland at 6:18 am ET / 3:18 am PT

Canada vs Fiji at 9:15 am ET / 6:15 am PT

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