CLEVE DHEENSAW
sa国际传媒
Westshore RFC and Castaway Wanderers from Oak Bay play at opposite sides of town. But club affiliations are put on the backburner when a national team jersey is put on. Both clubs are well represented in red as sa国际传媒 kicked off its preparation tour for the 2022 women’s rugby World Cup with a 15-9 victory Monday over the U.S. in Glendale, Colorado.
It was the first Test match for sa国际传媒 in nearly two years due to the pandemic. World No. 3 sa国际传媒 and the No. 6 U.S. meet again Friday in Glendale before sa国际传媒 goes overseas to play world top-ranked England on Nov. 14 in London at Twickenham Stoop and No. 11 Wales on Nov. 21 at Cardiff Arms Park.
On the Canadian team are Paige Farries of Westshore RFC and the Worcester Warriors of England and Renee Gonzalez and Emily Belchos de Goede of Westshore RFC, Gabrielle Senft and Sophie de Goede of CW and Tyson Beukeboom of Cowichan RFC.
The World Cup, originally scheduled for this year, was pushed back to next fall in New Zealand because of COVID.
“The players have made sacrifices over the last 24 months,” said Canadian team head coach Sandro Fiorino.
“This has been a long time coming. There have been lots of challenging times with COVID. This team is excited to get back on the field and put on that jersey with the Maple Leaf on front of it and put our best foot forward. The players are confident they have earned the respect of many of the people in this country. This is not like your normal national team. We have students, teachers, professionals and even parents. COVID put a lot of dreams on hold. We’re excited about this last push over the next 10 months.”
In many ways, it’s about getting to know one another again.
“We’re excited to restart our campaign for the World Cup,” said Fiorino.
“With the World Cup postponed, it’s our first time to get the group together. This tour is about team cohesion and getting opportunities to get on the field together and see where we’re at. We want to see the players just connect. It’s been a long time not being able to work beside each other. It’s been challenging We’re super excited to get back on the pitch.”
sa国际传媒 made the World Cup championship game in 2014 and has been fourth three times and was fifth in the last World Cup.
“This group set some high standards and the goal is to get back to the podium,” said Fiorino.
“This program has a strong legacy and has been to the podium before. We still have legacy players champing at the bit to get back to that podium.”
