If it’s true that history runs in cycles, things could be looking up for the Canadian men’s sevens squad very soon.
Heading into Wellington for the fourth leg of the 2014-15 HSBC Rugby Sevens World Series, the Canadians find themselves lodged in 12th place on the overall series ladder, a position well below expectations heading into the season.
Canada Men’s 7s Preview: Wellington.
Yes, they have taken home two Shields and one Bowl so far, but the standings are probably a fair reflection of a team which has produced some wildly uneven performances—sometimes from one game to the next, sometimes within a single game.
However, it was at this time last year that Canada found consistency and began a meteoric rise through the standings. After a dramatic victory in the third-place game in Las Vegas, the Canadians never looked back and over the next five tournaments managed to jump from 13th to 6th on the overall 2013-14 table.
They will, of course, be hoping to follow a similar script beginning on Feb 5th in Wellington; unfortunately, there are some significant hurdles which weren’t present at this time last year.
For one thing, Canada has been without Phil Mack, Nanyak Dala, Ciaran Hearn, and Nathan Hirayama for most or all of the season thus far. All four are hugely important veterans, and were key components of last season’s post-Vegas turnaround.
There’s also the departure of head coach Geraint John, who left last summer to take over the Australian sevens. His replacement, Liam Middleton, seems to have the right outlook for building short and long-term success, but was undermined by a late start—immigration red tape meant he didn’t join his team until a week before the second tournament of the season—and it remains to be seen if he can get the necessary buy-in from the players. Canada is full of character men who are committed to maintaining the professionalism of the program, but there was a sense that they would have gone through the proverbial wall for John, and Middleton simply won’t establish the same relationship overnight.
Still, there’s much to like about the Canadian squad which will take to the field in New Zealand.
With influential fly-half Harry Jones set to make his return, Canada should get around the park. Captain John Moonlight will be his usual influential self. And for better or worse, the injuries to veteran players mean Middleton will be integrating lots of new blood—indeed, the recently named squad is very young overall, but also very promising.
Lucas Hammond, for example, has fit into the squad nicely since his debut in Dubai last year; the hope is that he represents the first of many homegrown talents to come through a system which is using the 2016 Olympics to create a clear succession plan for its aspiring sevens players. (Justin Douglas also falls into this category, but he is out of the Wellington tournament with a back injury.) In addition, Mike Fuailefau and Jordan Wilson-Ross have flashed their raw tools in fairly limited action. Liam Underwood, meanwhile, has recovered from nagging concussion issues and will look to make an impression in his first sevens tournament after showing promise in the national XV’s setup.
Overall, the prevailing sentiment from the Canadian camp is that they have yet to show what they’re truly capable of, and Wellington will be another opportunity to walk the talk. Here’s a look at what Canada can expect on Day 1.
New Zealand (Feb 5th 5:08pm Canada PST)
Canada kicks things off against one of the undisputed big dogs, New Zealand’s Sevens All Blacks. The history of this matchup has not been kind to the Canadians, with the last meeting in 2014 a merciless 54-7 victory for the Kiwis in the Cup final at Glasgow. Playing the Sevens AB’s at their home tournament won’t make the task any less intimidating for the men in red.
Nevertheless, Canada managed upset victories against the likes of South Africa and Fiji on last year’s sevens tour, so the expectation should be at least a competitive game. A shocking upset would be a glorious jumping-off point to the tournament, but nearly everything would have to break Canada’s way for it to happen.
England (Feb 5th 8:26pm Canada PST)
Sandwiched between matches against New Zealand and Papua New Guinea, this shapes up as Canada’s swing game of the pool stage.
It won’t be easy, however. The English are showing mercurial form this year, having recently produced one of the most fascinating one-day performances that the SWS has seen in some time. Taking on the three most powerful sevens nations in back-to-back-to-back games at the Gold Coast event, England produced a shocking 31-7 upset of New Zealand, followed that up with a 48-7 loss to Fiji mere hours later, then gathered themselves in time to whitewash South Africa’s Blitzbokke 19-0.
So the English are clearly a danger to ignite at any time, and to make matters worse they may have worked their way into the Canadian psyche; in the last four matches England hold a 3-0-1 advantage, and the margin of victory has never been more than seven points.
In other words, Canada has come excruciatingly close to beating England on numerous occasions, only to fall just shy. If they can bring their best game to the table they’ll certainly have every opportunity to win this match—but it will be interesting to see which English side turns up on the day.
Papua New Guinea (Feb 5th 11:38 Canada PST)
Though Papua New Guinea are starting to show well in competitions like the Commonwealth Games, the fact remains that they’re still a developing, non-core team. In fact, their last appearance on the sevens circuit was back in 2008, when they went 0-5 in Wellington. (Of course, it should be noted that 21 of PNG’s 45 points that weekend came in a close loss to Canada.)
Young team or not, the bottom line is that this is a must-win for Canada. The only question is whether a victory would still put them in the running for a spot in the Cup quarterfinal on Day 2.
Canada’s Roster for Wellington : (Club, CRC Team) Hometown, Province
Admir Cejvanovic : (Burnaby Lake RFC/BC Bears) Vancouver, BC
Sean Duke : (UVIC Vikes/BC Bears) Vancouver, BC
Mike Fuailefau : (Castaway Wanderers/BC Bears) Victoria, BC
Lucas Hammond : (Toronto Nomads/Ontario Blues) Toronto, ON
Harry Jones : (Capilano RFC/BC Bears) North Vancouver, BC
Pat Kay : (UVIC Vikes/BC Bears) Duncan,BC
John Moonlight : (James Bay AA/Ontario Blues) Pickering, ON
Pat Parfrey : (James Bay AA/Atlantic Rock) St. John’s, NL
Conor Trainor : (UBCOB Ravens/BC Bears) Vancouver, BC
Liam Underwood : (Ontario Blues) Toronto, ON
Sean White : (James Bay AA/BC Bears) Victoria, BC
Jordan Wilson-Ross : (James Bay AA/Ontario Blues) Alliston, ON
Adam Zaruba : (Capilano RFC/BC Bears) Vancouver, BC
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