Home side the early Pan Ams favourites

TORONTO — The Canadian women’s rugby sevens team will have the proverbial target on its back at the Pan Am Games next month as the tournament’s No. 1 seed and host side. It’s a position that’s welcomed by Canadian star Ghislaine Landry, who feels quite comfortable knowing other teams will be gunning to knock them down.

“I think we’re pretty used to it to be honest,” Landry said Thursday on a conference call. “We haven’t been ranked No. 1 on the World Series. But whenever we play a team, it seems like they’re always out for blood against us. We’ve performed consistently enough that most teams know that we’re a threat.

“No one takes us lightly. I think going into Pan Ams we’re used to that, we’re comfortable with that.”

Landry, the Women’s Sevens Series scoring leader, will lead the Canadian squad along with captain Jen Kish and Magali Harvey. Canada is coming off a second-place overall finish on the Women’s Sevens Series and has already locked up a spot at the Rio Olympics next summer.

The Americans were fifth in the World Series standings while Brazil was 10th. Argentina, Colombia and Mexico round out the sixteam field.