RUGBY SEVENS COMBINE HELD IN TORONTO

Rugby Canada held its first talent identification combine for Canadian football (gridiron) players on Sunday, October 15. The venue was Monarch Park Collegiate in Toronto’s east end, where nine potential Rugby Canada players were run through a series of evaluations and coaching sessions.

Rugby Canada Strength and Conditioning Coach Kris Robertson got the proceedings started with a progression of athletic tests, which included standing broad jumps and 40-metre sprints. Following that, a set of drills for ball handling and defense were run by Sandro Fiorino, Lead Coach for the Canada Sevens Academy in eastern Canada, and Lee Douglas, the Assistant Coach for the National Senior Men's Sevens program. Also present was former national men’s fifteens and sevens player Adam Kleeberger, who is currently Strength and Conditioning Coach for the Canadian Sports Institute.

Several players in attendance had previously been on CFL squads, while others had played for Canadian university teams. One candidate had also been a high-performance athlete for bobsleigh, while another had represented Canada at Australian rules football. Toronto native Steven Adu had another kind of oval ball experience: the former Ottawa RedBlack cornerback recently spent some time playing rugby league in Australia.

“The day was great. We had former CFL players come out and train with us,” commented Fiorino. “The testing went well with very comparable speeds. We did some skill assessment and saw some potential out there.

“Hopefully, this is the first of many. With a little bit of marketing and more preparation time, we can probably get our numbers up and get even more players out in the future,” added Fiorino.

Following the combine, Fiorino outlined some of the potential pathways to Rugby Canada programs.

“These players will be encouraged to join high performance rugby programs and I’m excited to have them integrated with the top athletes in Ontario to continue progressing their skills in rugby sevens,” Fiorino added.

Kris Robertson also addressed the players after the session and his message came from a familiar perspective. He revealed that he himself had been a football player at Concordia University and was drafted by the Winnipeg Blue Bombers before coming to Rugby Canada as Strength and Conditioning Coach.

"Today went really well. A lot of good athletes out here, first time playing rugby for some of them," added Robertson. "My biggest message to any football player is play rugby: the worst thing that could happen is that you become a better football player.

"The CFL is a tough business. Rugby is a pretty good back-up plan; I wish I had known about it when I was coming up. Things would have been different for myself.”

Interested in learning more about switching to Rugby Sevens, please contact Ken Goodland: kgoodland@rugbycanada.ca

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