Whatever they did during those long, cool and soggy winter training sessions at Westhills Stadium and Goudy Field, it worked.
The Langford-based Canadian national women鈥檚 and men鈥檚 teams made significant impacts Saturday at the storied Hong Kong Sevens, the raucous and colourful granddaddy tournament of sevens rugby.
sa国际传媒 went on a rampage in capturing the women鈥檚 championship, outscoring its opponents by a combined 144-0, topped by the 29-0 victory over Australia in the final before 40,000 fans.
sa国际传媒 blanked Hong Kong 33-0 and Japan 54-0 in group play and eclipsed France 28-0 in the semifinals to show why it is considered a medal favourite for Rio 2016, when rugby sevens makes its Summer Olympics debut.
鈥淲e were due for a solid performance and a lot of work went into the preparation for this tournament,鈥� said Canadian women鈥檚 head coach John Tait, in a statement.
鈥淚t was a very complete [championship] game where we not only dominated in the contact but starved Australia of possession,鈥� added Tait, who put the team through its extensive pre-tournament training paces at the Rugby sa国际传媒 Centre of Excellence in Langford.
Meanwhile, the Canadian men advanced to today鈥檚 quarter-finals against defending world champion Wales after going 2-1 in group play by defeating Hong Kong 14-12 and Spain 31-7 before losing 26-5 to famed Fiji.
On the Canadian roster from Island clubs are Nanyak Dala, Mike Fuailefau, Chauncey O鈥橳oole and Ciaran Hearn of Castaway Wanderers, Sean Duke and Nathan Hirayama of the UVic Vikes and John Moonlight of James Bay.
