StFX's Ghislaine Landry and Lisa Gauthier compete for Canada
Courtesy Canadian Interuniversity Sport

Las Vegas – the last time the CIS Women’s 7s Rugby team participated in the prestigious USA Rugby’s Women’s International Invitational 7s Tournament; they were hailed as the Cinderella story. As it turns out, this time was no different.

In their first opportunity to play together, this young CIS squad showed that they have both the talent and the heart to compete in the big leagues.

The Canadians began the tournament undefeated in pool play, beginning with a 15-0 shut-out victory against a strong French team, who had arrived confident from their victory at the Dubai international tournament. Their second match resulted in another strong win against the USA Development team by a score of 17-5. There was a price paid for these hard fought victories; however, as the team lost Laura Russell and Lisa Gauthier to injuries.

In the cross-over match, Team Canada met a very experienced USA Senior side whose unrelenting pressure saw the Canadian youngsters falter, giving up two tries for 10 points in the first half. The Canadians emerged from the half-time break better focused and recharged and controlled much of the second half, scoring 7 points to the American’s 5. Unfortunately it wasn’t quite enough for a victory and the USA won by a final score of 15-7.

The semi-final game saw a rematch between Team Canada and the USA Senior Women’s team and the results were identical with the final score 15-7 in favour of the more experienced American side.

The bronze medal game was another rematch, this time against the French. However, the result was different, with the more experienced French side finding their rhythm over the course of the day, whereas the physical and mental challenge of their first taste of international competition had final taken its toll over the younger Canadian team. Despite a valiant effort, the Canadians fell by a final score of 31-0.

“We simply hit the wall, both mentally and physically,” said Chaulk. “But that’s to be expected with a team who were making their first appearance together. Our goals for this weekend were to develop our teamwork, execute the patterns of play that we had practised together and put into practice our defensive systems; all of which we achieved in spades.”

“If I can steal the motto from our 2010 Olympic Games, this event was about creating belief; in ourselves and each other, and our ability to compete at this level. And this is key if we’re to achieve our final goal of recapturing gold at the FISU World Championships in Portugal this coming July.”

In reflecting on her team’s performance, Team Canada captain, Ghislaine Landry said she was very pleased with the overall results of the weekend. “This was a very important opportunity for us to train and play together. Having the added bonus of being able to spend two days watching world class 7s and building a positive team dynamic will be invaluable in our preparations for the Worlds in July.”

Looking ahead, Chaulk admits that there is still much work to be done. “We sat down together after the tournament to critically reflect on our performance and map out the path ahead. Each of us has identified what work needs to be done and we’ve all committed to each other to do our part in making sure that our preparations are complete when we reconvene in July for our final training camp. This is an extremely determined group of young athletes who have set the highest goal for themselves; winning gold will not be easy but we have every confidence that they will be spending the next five months working extremely hard on all aspects of their preparations so that achieving that goal will be possible.”

TEAM CANADA ROSTER

Name - University - Hometown
Shannon Court Lethbridge Calgary, Alta.
Jessica Dovanne Saint Mary’s Victoria, B.C.
Annika Eriksson Alberta Edmonton, Alta.
Lisa Gauthier St. Francis Xavier Ottawa, Ont.
Michelle Joslin Guelph Waterloo, Ont.
Ghislaine Landry St. Francis Xavier Toronto, Ont.
Janine Martin Alberta Edmonton, Alta.
Marlene Nedved Alberta Edmonton, Alta.
Karen Paquin Laval Quebec City, Que.
Jocelyn Poirier Queen’s Ottawa, Ont.
Laura Russell Western Ontario Bolton, Ont.
Charlotte Vallières-Villeneuve Laval Quebec City, Que.
Natasha Watcham-Roy Ottawa Gatineau, Que.
Karlye Wong Queen’s Ottawa, Ont.