They certainly looked focused.
Throwing off a year of upheaval in their Langford base 鈥� from a COVID outbreak to a coaching change 鈥� the Canadian women鈥檚 rugby sevens team opened in the Tokyo Olympics with a 33-0 victory over Brazil on Wednesday.
鈥淚t was so good. It鈥檚 been such a build-up,鈥� said team captain Ghislaine Landry.
鈥淲e鈥檝e been in the Village for about a week now. We鈥檙e just so happy to be on the field playing together and I鈥檓 pretty happy with that first performance.鈥�
sa国际传媒, however, looked tense and was slow to get rolling.
鈥淐redit to their speed and 颅fitness 鈥� [Brazil] made us work really hard,鈥� said Landry.
鈥淎t half time we talked about going 100 per cent and you saw that in the second half.鈥�
A players鈥� revolt in Langford this spring led to the departure of head coach John Tait of Mill Bay, who guided sa国际传媒 to the Olympic bronze medal at Rio 2016. The players were not satisfied by the results of an independent investigation commissioned by Rugby sa国际传媒 that looked into their complaints of bullying and harassment and found no protocol breaches.
Mick Byrne, a well-travelled 62-year-old Aussie and grandfather, assumed the role of interim Canadian head coach through the Tokyo Olympics. Byrne has been specialty coach with New Zealand and Australia and has consulted with the Canadian women鈥檚 sevens team since 2012.
鈥淗e鈥檚 one of the best rugby coaches in the world,鈥� said 颅Landry.
鈥淗is knowledge is second to none. We are so fortunate he was able to step in and help us get here and elevate our game.鈥�
sa国际传媒 continues pool play against Fiji this morning and 颅finishes off against France at 5:30 p.m. PT this evening.
The quarter-finals are in the wee hours Friday morning with the semifinals at 7 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. on Friday evening. The medal round is in the wee hours Saturday morning.
Elsewhere, there was 颅disappointment for tennis 颅players Felix Auger-Aliassime and 颅Gabriela Dabrowski, who lost their opening match of the mixed doubles competition Wednesday and officially ended sa国际传媒鈥檚 hopes for a tennis medal.
