Canadian rugby sevens men face congested schedule in April

The Canadian men’s rugby sevens team is no stranger to crisscrossing the globe. But April promises to be a stiff test for even these hardcore travellers.

The Canadians depart Friday for World Series stops in Hong Kong (April 6-8) and Singapore (April 28-29) sandwiched around the Commonwealth Games rugby tournament (April 13-15) in Gold Coast, Australia.

Spending a month on the road is gruelling for anyone. Having big bodies take a run at you at top speeds only adds to the challenge.

“If we can still have 12 of the 14 standing by the end of the month, that will be a terrific achievement by the players,” said Canada coach Damian McGrath. “Because it does take its toll on the body and it’s a very draining sport to play over a month’s period like that.

“It will be a real challenge to the body so I’m hoping that we get through it with people relatively healthy.”

The Canadian women have a similarly gruelling month with World Series stops in Japan (April 21-22) and Langford, B.C., (May 12-13) following the Commonwealth Games. Unlike the Canadian men, the women have yet to name their roster.

There are no surprises to McGrath’s squad with Matt Mullins and Lucas Hammond drawing into the expanded 14-man squad and Luke Bradley, a victim of the numbers game with too many forwards, dropping out.

Phil Berna and Jake Thiel remain out with long-term injuries. Bradley, Josiah Morra and Jared Douglas are on standby in case of further injury.

McGrath continues his rotation of the captaincy with John Moonlight taking over as skipper for the trip. Harry Jones and Nate Hirayama are the team’s other leaders.

Hirayama hasn’t trained since the Match 10-11 World Series stop in Vancouver event due to a MRSA infection.

“That affected several of the team. Nate was the worst infected and he had a bit of a hospitalization,” said McGrath.

“He’s healthy now and he’ll be fit, hopefully ready to go for Hong Kong.”

Hirayama spent his 30th birthday in hospital, with a nasty hole in his leg to show for the experience.

CFL speedster Tevaughn Campbell remains in the squad on his last tour before rejoining the Montreal Alouettes for training camp.

“He’s showed enough to show that he’s got what it takes. And every day we spend with him, he gets better and better,” said McGrath, who hopes Campbell will rejoin the team at some point in the future.

The congested April schedule is complicated for the Canadians in that all three events mean something.

The venerable Hong Kong tournament is one of the World Series highlights. The Commonwealth Games only come around every four years. And Canada is defending champion in Singapore.

The 2017 win in Singapore was Canada’s first, coming in its 140th event on the World Series.