Canada’s women’s sevens team is hoping to end the season with a bang at the Rugby World Cup Sevens.
Ghislaine Landry, Canada’s sevens captain, will be leading the team, who along with Kayla Moleschi and Bianca Farella are the only returning players from last 2013 Cup roster. AT&T Park in San Francisco will host both men’s and women’s sevens games.
Canada got an automatic qualifier to the Cup after reaching the semifinals and then finals at the last Cup.
Landry and head coach John Tait said this season didn’t go exactly how the team had envisioned, as Tait said the team made goals to win the World Series and the Commonwealth Games, but finished fourth at the Commonwealth Games and ninth in the series.
“Inconsistent play and injuries throughout the season kept us from firing the way we expect ourselves to play, [to what] we thought we were building off of last year,” Tait said.
During the last Rugby World Cup Sevens the women took the silver medal, and Landry said focusing on one game at a time and maintaining possession of the ball were key factors to their success and the same game plan applies this time around.
“Trusting our skills and our belief [is key],” she said.
“We didn’t have exactly the results we wanted this season, but we were playing some really good rugby and we have to believe what we’re doing is working, and if we do that and we keep the ball, I think good things will happen.”
Heading into the ruby World Cup, the women’s sevens has the strongest roster it has had all season after Farella and Charity Williams were both out the majority of the season due to shoulder injuries, Tait noted that the two played well in France, scoring important tries for the squad, and that the pair should be hitting their strides for the Cup.
“If she [Farella] takes that form into the World Cup, which I expect her to, and Charity Williams gets to the form she’s capable of it gives us two big weapons we didn’t have for most of the season and that most teams, I think, will have to worry about,” Tait said. “When they have to worry about them, it just means it frees up more room for people like Ghislaine and Britt Benn and Julia Greenshields, and that makes them even more dangerous.”
Tait said the tough losses has helped the team grow and learn how to be more resilient under pressure. Mistakes happen, but recovering quickly is what he knows his team is capable of.
Landry said many friends and family will be travelling down to San Francisco to watch the team play, which is exciting, and said the team will definitely “feed off that support and energy.”
Canada will face Brazil in their first game on Friday, July 20.
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