Olympic qualification, relegation on the minds of Canadian 7s teams at Vancouver event
CBC
The party is planned, but the Canadians mean business.
Canada's women's and men's rugby sevens teams aim to turn around their respective seasons when the HSBC Canada Sevens event kicks off in Vancouver at BC Place on Friday.
"Sevens is a party, and BC Place — having been there — is a party," women's head coach Jack Hanratty said in a recent interview with CBC Sports. "We feel we've arranged a good party. It's [about] rugby first and foremost — the biggest thing that I'm excited about is putting on performances that the Canadian rugby public [is] proud of.
The next stop on the World Rugby Sevens Series — which takes place March 3-5 — will mark the eighth time the tournament has been staged in Vancouver, but the first time a full slate of 12 women's teams compete alongside the men.
"We're really happy that the women can partake in it this year," men's interim head coach Sean White said.
"It always seemed a little strange operating two different tournaments ... to get them together now and to really put Canadian rugby on the front-burner is really exciting."
Watch live coverage of the men's and women's tournaments beginning on Friday at 12:05 p.m. ET on cbcsports.ca, CBC Gem and the CBC Sports app for iOS and Android.
After four out of seven events this season, the Canadian women sit 10th in the overall standings with 16 points. In Cape Town, South Africa they achieved their best result with an eighth-place finish — the team's only quarter-final appearance in 2022-23.
New Zealand, winner of the last three tournaments, sits atop the standings with 78 points.
This season's women's and men's World Series offers nations their first opportunity at Paris 2024 Olympic qualification for teams finishing in the top four, excluding host France.
Women's co-captain Olivia Apps said her team's primary focus was earning a berth to the next Summer Games.
"Our goal for the year was definitely to qualify for the Olympics and finish in that top four [or] top five area in the World Series," Apps told CBC Sports. "That goal right now does seem a bit far for us.
"A lot of us get our energy from playing in front of our friends and family, and playing in front of such a great crowd as it is in Vancouver, so I know that everybody is really stoked."
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