Hearn gets call as Canada takes aim at Olympic rugby spot

There’s nothing left to save it for now.

Ciaran Hearn, the XVs pro with London Irish, has been brought back into the Canadian roster for the last-chance men’s rugby sevens Olympic qualifier Saturday and Sunday in Monaco.

“The Olympics are the pinnacle of sport. Every athlete dreams about, and aspires to be an Olympian,” said Hearn, during training at Westhills Stadium in Langford.

He will get his chance this weekend. The champion of the Monaco qualifier, also known as the repechage, will earn the 12th and final berth into the 2016 Rio Summer Olympic Games.

The versatile Hearn, who played for the Castaways Wanderers and is part of that Oak Bay club’s well-worn Newfoundland pipeline, is as home in sevens as he is in XVs. “The speed in sevens is unmatched. It is less physical, but everything moves a lot quicker,” Hearn said.

Named by coach Liam Middleton to the Canadian roster for the 16-team Olympic qualifier are Hearn; Oak Bay-grad Phil Mack and SMUS-grad Mike Fuailefau, both of Victoria; UVic Vikes products Nathan Hirayama and Lucas Hammond; Admir Cejvanovic of Burnaby; Justin Douglas of Abbotsford; Harry Jones of West Vancouver; Conor Trainor, Phil Berna and Adam Zaruba, all of Vancouver; and captain John Moonlight of James Bay Athletic Association.

The training sessions at Westhills Stadium the past month under Middleton were focused and crisply paced with what he described as a sense of “selfbelief.”

“We are not viewing the qualifier, as a whole, with a do-or-die mindset,” said Hearn. “We have to concentrate on each game as it comes. It’s all about the process.”

Canada is in a pool with Germany, Uruguay and Sri Lanka.

The top-three favourites for the prized final slot into Rio are world No. 9 Samoa, No. 13 Canada and No. 14 Russia.

It has come down to the repechage for Canada after its 21-5 loss to the U.S. last year in the final of the North American and Caribbean qualifier for Rio 2016.

The highly regarded Langford-based Canadian women’s sevens team, meanwhile, has qualified and is training at Westhills and PISE and will head into the Rio Olympics ranked No. 3 in the world.