Las Vegas – the last time the CIS Women’s 7s Rugby
team participated in the prestigious USA Rugby’s
Women’s International Invitational 7s Tournament; they were
hailed as the Cinderella story. As it turns out, this time was no
different.
In their first opportunity to play together, this young CIS squad
showed that they have both the talent and the heart to compete in
the big leagues.
The Canadians began the tournament undefeated in pool play,
beginning with a 15-0 shut-out victory against a strong French
team, who had arrived confident from their victory at the Dubai
international tournament. Their second match resulted in another
strong win against the USA Development team by a score of 17-5.
There was a price paid for these hard fought victories; however, as
the team lost Laura Russell and Lisa Gauthier to injuries.
In the cross-over match, Team Canada met a very experienced USA
Senior side whose unrelenting pressure saw the Canadian youngsters
falter, giving up two tries for 10 points in the first half. The
Canadians emerged from the half-time break better focused and
recharged and controlled much of the second half, scoring 7 points
to the American’s 5. Unfortunately it wasn’t quite
enough for a victory and the USA won by a final score of 15-7.
The semi-final game saw a rematch between Team Canada and the USA
Senior Women’s team and the results were identical with the
final score 15-7 in favour of the more experienced American
side.
The bronze medal game was another rematch, this time against the
French. However, the result was different, with the more
experienced French side finding their rhythm over the course of the
day, whereas the physical and mental challenge of their first taste
of international competition had final taken its toll over the
younger Canadian team. Despite a valiant effort, the Canadians fell
by a final score of 31-0.
“We simply hit the wall, both mentally and physically,”
said Chaulk. “But that’s to be expected with a team who
were making their first appearance together. Our goals for this
weekend were to develop our teamwork, execute the patterns of play
that we had practised together and put into practice our defensive
systems; all of which we achieved in spades.”
“If I can steal the motto from our 2010 Olympic Games, this
event was about creating belief; in ourselves and each other, and
our ability to compete at this level. And this is key if
we’re to achieve our final goal of recapturing gold at the
FISU World Championships in Portugal this coming July.”
In reflecting on her team’s performance, Team Canada captain,
Ghislaine Landry said she was very pleased with the overall results
of the weekend. “This was a very important opportunity for us
to train and play together. Having the added bonus of being able to
spend two days watching world class 7s and building a positive team
dynamic will be invaluable in our preparations for the Worlds in
July.”
Looking ahead, Chaulk admits that there is still much work to be
done. “We sat down together after the tournament to
critically reflect on our performance and map out the path ahead.
Each of us has identified what work needs to be done and
we’ve all committed to each other to do our part in making
sure that our preparations are complete when we reconvene in July
for our final training camp. This is an extremely determined group
of young athletes who have set the highest goal for themselves;
winning gold will not be easy but we have every confidence that
they will be spending the next five months working extremely hard
on all aspects of their preparations so that achieving that goal
will be possible.”
TEAM CANADA
ROSTER
Name - University - Hometown
Shannon Court Lethbridge Calgary, Alta.
Jessica Dovanne Saint Mary’s Victoria, B.C.
Annika Eriksson Alberta Edmonton, Alta.
Lisa Gauthier St. Francis Xavier Ottawa, Ont.
Michelle Joslin Guelph Waterloo, Ont.
Ghislaine Landry St. Francis Xavier Toronto, Ont.
Janine Martin Alberta Edmonton, Alta.
Marlene Nedved Alberta Edmonton, Alta.
Karen Paquin Laval Quebec City, Que.
Jocelyn Poirier Queen’s Ottawa, Ont.
Laura Russell Western Ontario Bolton, Ont.
Charlotte Vallières-Villeneuve Laval Quebec City, Que.
Natasha Watcham-Roy Ottawa Gatineau, Que.
Karlye Wong Queen’s Ottawa, Ont.
Team Canada
Staff
Suzanne Chaulk, Head Coach of the University of Ottawa Gee Gees, is
returning as the program’s head coach after leading the 2004
and 2006 Canadian teams to gold in Beijing, China and Rome, Italy
and a silver medal in Cordoba, Spain in 2008.
Jean-Philippe Lavoie is making his debut with Team Canada and is an
Assistant Coach with the Gee Gees Women’s Rugby program.
Hassan Saeed is the strength and conditioning coach for many of the
Gee Gees varsity sport programs and will using his expertise to
guide the players’ physical preparations over the coming
months.
Jordy Burgess of Momentum Physiotherapy in Ottawa provided medical
support for the athletes during this event. Jordy replaced his
colleague, Carrie Smith, who is currently working at the 2010
Olympics in Vancouver.