What you need to know about weekend event
Here’s what you need to know about Canada Sevens and the home team
OK Vancouver, this is Year 4.
You’ve been so good at this that the tournament was renewed this week for another four years.
Here are the key things you need to know this weekend:
When do games start? The first game goes today at 9:08 a.m. between longtime rivals England and Scotland. Canada’s first game is 11 a.m. against Samoa. (There’s a lot at stake in this one, likely second place in the pool.)
Are the Canadians any good?
Yes, though they’ve had some struggles this season. In the first five tournaments this season Canada has managed to make the quarter-finals only once, but they’ve missed out three times by losing a game by just a single score.
In rugby sevens, the average game has just over five tries per game. The winner often is the team with the final possession of the ball. The Canadians prefer a strong ballcontrol style, working to keep other teams on defence and without the ball as much as anything.
Who are the guys to know on Canada? Canada’s captain Nathan Hirayama, born and raised in Richmond, is already one of the all-time greats of rugby sevens. He’s fourth all-time in scoring, having passed the 1,600-point barrier last weekend in Las Vegas.
Harry Jones is another longtime veteran. He’s from West Vancouver and just returned from shoulder surgery. On the wing, North Vancouver’s Adam Zaruba spent the past two seasons trying to make it in the National Football League but now has returned to his favourite game. He’s a giant and he’s fast.
Connor Braid is the team’s main ball carrier and has a fine set of hands, too. (Abbotsford’s Justin Douglas is one of the sport’s best try scorers, but he’s been sidelined with a concussion.)
What’s the deal with Canada’s schedule? The Canadians’ most crucial game is actually their first game against Samoa. The Samoans narrowly beat Canada in Las Vegas but then powered through to the final, losing to the Americans. Still, how battered are they from that run?
Game 2 for Canada is against Fiji at 2:08 p.m. The Fijians are heavy favourites, but they slumped last weekend in Las Vegas to sixth place and are dealing with injury challenges. But still, this is Fiji. They’re the 2016 gold medallists.
Canada’s final pool game is against Kenya at 5:40 p.m. The Kenyans won plenty of fans in their exciting run to the Canada Sevens final last year. They lost to Fiji.
The big story for the east Africans is the massive turnover in their squad, mostly driven by a pay dispute between the players and the Kenyan Rugby Union.
Do I have to dress up? Nope. But there’s no doubt that dressing up in “fancy dress” (as rugby sevens fans like to call it) is a big part of the event.
Think of it as Halloween in March. The past three editions of the Canada Sevens have seen groups of fans dressed as Lego men, crusaders, sheep, unicorns, loggers, Mounties, superheroes, Ninja Turtles, famous paintings, moose, bears, hippies, assorted fruits ... you get the picture.
What’s at stake? Standings points, and this year, a spot in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. You win the tournament, you get 22 points. Runner-up receives 19, third place
17. Finish in one of the bottom two spots, you get a single point.
The top four teams in the standings at the end of the season — the final tournament is in Paris in June — will automatically advance to the rugby sevens competition at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
Who is playing? Sixteen teams
from around the globe. Fifteen are regular “core” teams: Canada, U.S., England, Wales, Scotland, France, Spain, Argentina, South Africa, Kenya, Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, Samoa and Japan. The latter 14 retained their spot based on their finishes in the 2017-18 season. Japan won a qualifying tournament last spring in Hong Kong.
The 16th team this weekend is Chile, winner of a South American qualifying series in January.