NEWS REPORT

Canada is all set for departure to the last two Tournaments of the World Sevens Series, when they face a highly competitive field at the London and Cardiff Emirate Airlines Sevens. A young squad will be seeking to retain an eighth place world ranking.

The team leaves Tuesday 22nd May for London, where they will play Sunday 27th and Monday 28th May at the Stoop ground in Middlesex. From the Harlequins ground, they travel down the M4 motorway to Wales, where they will play the first day of competition on Saturday 2nd June at Newport Rugby Club on Rodney Parade, before the finale in the Millennium stadium on Sunday 3rd June.

The squad is led by Coach David Hill of Alberta and new Manager Rick Farrally of Victoria, British Columbia. Both have been involved with training the Sevens squad since the beginning of the season. Jill Neidhardt is the Team Therapist.

Despite the heavy demands on National level players being posed by the 3 games for the full XVs squad in the Pan American Rugby Association Tournament, and the two games against England which follow on, Canada will field a strong squad. Veteran forward Andrew Hoffman will provide his usual hard-nosed presence, while Shane Thompson and Jesse Frender, Canada’s leading Sevens points scorer in this year’s WSS, will provide a strong backbone to the team.

Matt Cohen, Jim Douglas, Quentin Fyffe, Trevor Hammond, Todd McBride, Simon Pacey and Akio Tyler have all traveled with the squad before, and will be ready for what to expect. Meanwhile Tyler Wish makes his debut as a prolific points scorer in British Columbia this season, and Barclay Luke has impressed with his fitness and form at Pacific Pride.

In London, Canada starts off tough, meeting Russia in its first game of the afternoon. Things don’t get much better as Georgia and New Zealand round out the other Pool members.

In Cardiff, Canada faces home team Wales, Australia, and Scotland who provide their first opposition. With the end of the regular season, the Home Countries should have a wealth of talent to draw from, and the going will be hard for the Canucks if they are to hold on to their present ranking.

POOLS FOR IRB SEVENS SERIES LONDON
Pool A: New Zealand, Canada, Georgia and Russia
Pool B: Australia, Argentina, France and Spain
Pool C: Fiji, South Africa, Portugal and Scotland
Pool D: Samoa, England, Wales, West Indies

POOLS FOR IRB SEVENS SERIES WALES
Pool A: New Zealand, Argentina, Portugal and West Indies
Pool B: Australia, Canada, Wales and Scotland
Pool C: Fiji, England, Georgia and Spain
Pool D: Samoa, South Africa, France and Russia