CANADA'S WOMEN'S SEVENS TEAM SET FOR CENTRAL COAST SEVENS

Canada’s women’s sevens team kick off preseason action this weekend at the Central Coast Sevens in Central Coast, Australia.

Canada, who won the event back in 2014, will compete as the Maple Leafs in the 16-team tournament which includes series sides from Australia, Fiji and USA.

The team has spent the last two weeks training in Australia, first opening up camp in Sydney before heading about 100 kilometres north along the coast of New South Wales to Central Coast.

The trip was supposed to be a good opportunity for the team to acclimatize themselves to the weather before opening up the 2017-18 HSBC World Rugby Women’s Sevens Series next month in Dubai, but after having one of the driest and hottest winters ever in Australia, the Canadians brought some of that west coast rain down under.

“Unfortunately for us they have finally gotten some rain the past week we have been here,” said head coach John Tait. “That being said, it has heated up the last few days and it has been fairly sunny and warm for all of our on-field sessions.”

It will be mostly sunny with temperatures in the high 20’s when the team hits the field on Saturday and Sunday but Tait says his team will be prepared regardless of what Mother Nature brings.

“I’m pretty pleased with how our squad has been training,” said Tait. “We have turned the focus towards more tactical play this past week after having a good long preseason focus on sharpening up our technical skills. A few of the younger players are really starting to show some confidence in themselves, which is great as we will need a few to step up and provide some depth for us through this first half of the season with a few of our senior players rehabbing from offseason surgeries.”

The coaching staff should get a good idea of some of that depth in just a couple days. With 15 players touring Australia, Tait was concerned with his players getting minutes come tournament time, so he has leant out three of the younger players to USA’s Stars Rugby 7’s team with hopes of getting some more playing time for his next generation.

“We selected a balance of players that can cover us positional wise for this tournament as we want to get everyone playing time to get some tournament fitness and all that goes with that ahead of Dubai,” said Tait. “Three of our younger Maple Leafs - Pam Buisa and the Levale’ sisters Tausani and Nakisa - will be suiting up for the select side the Stars. With that team having the likes of Fiji in the group, it will be a great opportunity to test themselves against some quality series level opposition.”

Canada will be grouped with Avoca Beach, Cook Islands and Sunnybank in Pool B, three unfamiliar teams.

“We don’t know a lot about our pool opposition and this early in the season we think it is more worthwhile to focus on what we want to do regardless of the opposition,” said Tait. “We are definitely hoping to crossover and play Australia on day two, even better if it is in the finals. We would relish the chance to get an early measure of where we are at right now against one of the top teams in the world.”

The entire Central Coast Sevens will be streamed live at:

http://centralcoastsevens.com.au/useful-links/watch-live/watch-live-2017/

For the fourth straight year, Canada will also return home for HSBC Canada Sevens as Langford’s Westhills Stadium will play host to the HSBC Women’s Sevens Series May 12-13, 2018. Ticket and event information can be found at www.canadasevens.com

Canada’s Maple Leafs roster for Central Coast Sevens:

Olivia Apps – Lindsay RFC (Lindsay, 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)

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)

Sabrina Poulin – TMRRFC (Vaudreuil-Dorion, QC)

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

Canada’s Central Coast Sevens Schedule:

Maple Leafs vs. Avoca Beach – 10:20am local time (Saturday, Oct 28)

            -7:20pm ET/4:20pm PT in Canada (Friday, Oct 27)

Maple Leafs vs. Sunnybank – 1pm local time (Saturday, Oct 28)

            -10pm ET/7pm PT in Canada (Friday, Oct 27)

Maple Leafs vs. Cook Islands – 4pm local time

            -1am ET (Saturday, Oct 28) / 10pm PT (Friday, Oct 27)

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