The Canadian Men’s Rugby Sevens team engineered a badly-needed revival this weekend.
Having qualified for only one Cup quarterfinal in six tournaments thus far on the 2014-15 HSBC Sevens World Series, Canada has remained buried in the overall standings and looked very much like a team taking a step back in its development.
What one upset win could mean for Rugby Canada
To top it off, their struggles have come at a particularly bad time, with the USA—the only serious opposition at the looming North American Olympic qualifying event—starting to fulfill their potential to become one of the most dangerous teams in the world.
All of which is why Canada headed to the Tokyo 7s in desperate need of a spark, something to confirm their belief that they belong in the mix with the best the sevens circuit has to offer.
Finishing in the tournament’s top three would have done the trick, and though that prize ultimately proved to be just beyond reach, Canada managed to do something which might have been even better when they toppled New Zealand in the quarterfinals.
When Ciaran Hearn hoofed the ball into touch after the hooter—a fitting moment given how important his return from injury has been—it not only sealed a historic 19-15 victory for Canada, but also confirmed that anything is possible for this iteration of the team.
If that seems a touch hyperbolic, consider that New Zealand has historically been dominant at sevens, winning 12 of the 15 series ever staged. And before this weekend, they had beaten Canada 28 times in 28 matchups.
So make no mistake, this win was as big as they come not only because of the historical precedent, but also because it puts on hold a fair number of questions about the trajectory of the Canadian sevens program.
Is the team deep enough to overcome injuries? Did they lose a certain je ne sais quoi in the off-season coaching change? Can the Canadian system produce enough skilled players?
None of it seemed to matter during the celebrations of an exhausted team on a rainy Tokyo afternoon.
Of course, it seems only fitting that in a season of “what-ifs,” Canada managed to add a couple more near-miss results.
What if they had held their ground in the final two minutes of a 21-19 loss to Fiji in the Third Place game? Wins over the Fijians and New Zealanders would have unquestionably sealed the greatest single day in the history of Canadian men’s sevens.
One better: what if they had topped England in a tight semifinal? The English, after all, would go on to win the tournament against South Africa’s Blitzbokke. Taking the road to the final via New Zealand and England would have seen Canada as a legitimate threat to win their first sevens Cup.
But “what-ifs” aren’t reality, and it must also be noted that weather conditions played into Canada’s hands, with the renowned quick-strike ability of the Pacific nations sides slowed by a soggy pitch. Generally a team light on flat-out speed but laden with grunt and heart, Canada were the benefactors of such rainy conditions.
Regardless, neither the weather nor the post-quarterfinal results can undo the good Canada did in toppling New Zealand. If anything, it’s encouraging that they managed to follow up such a famous win with strong performances against two other top sides. Many underdog winners have been ruthlessly brought back to reality only one game after an upset victory, but Canada—despite the bottom-line results—showed that their quarterfinal victory was more than a fluke.
What one upset win could mean for Rugby Canada will only become clear over weeks and months, and with the next leg of the series in Glasgow a month away the picture won’t become clear anytime soon.
What can’t be doubted, however, is that this Canadian side isn’t going to be content with causing just one surprise in 2015.
