Ciaran Hearn, the XVs pro with London Irish, has been brought back into the Canadian roster for the last-chance men鈥檚 rugby sevens Olympic qualifier Saturday and Sunday in Monaco.
鈥淭he Olympics are the pinnacle of sport. Every athlete dreams about, and aspires to be an Olympian,鈥� said Hearn, during training at Westhills Stadium in Langford.
He will get his chance this weekend. The champion of the Monaco qualifier, also known as the repechage, will earn the 12th and final berth into the 2016 Rio Summer Olympic Games.
The versatile Hearn, who played for the Castaways Wanderers and is part of that Oak Bay club鈥檚 well-worn Newfoundland pipeline, is as home in sevens as he is in XVs. 鈥淭he speed in sevens is unmatched. It is less physical, but everything moves a lot quicker,鈥� Hearn said.
Named by coach Liam Middleton to the Canadian roster for the 16-team Olympic qualifier are Hearn; Oak Bay-grad Phil Mack and SMUS-grad Mike Fuailefau, both of Victoria; UVic Vikes products Nathan Hirayama and Lucas Hammond; Admir Cejvanovic of Burnaby; Justin Douglas of Abbotsford; Harry Jones of West Vancouver; Conor Trainor, Phil Berna and Adam Zaruba, all of Vancouver; and captain John Moonlight of James Bay Athletic Association.
The training sessions at Westhills Stadium the past month under Middleton were focused and crisply paced with what he described as a sense of 鈥渟elf-belief.鈥�
鈥淲e are not viewing the qualifier, as a whole, with a do-or-die mindset,鈥� said Hearn. 鈥淲e have to concentrate on each game as it comes. It鈥檚 all about the process.鈥�
sa国际传媒 is in a pool with Germany, Uruguay and Sri Lanka.
The top-three favourites for the prized final slot into Rio are world No. 9 Samoa, No. 13 sa国际传媒 and No. 14 Russia.
It has come down to the repechage for sa国际传媒 after its 21-5 loss to the U.S. last year in the final of the North American and Caribbean qualifier for Rio 2016.
The highly regarded Langford-based Canadian women鈥檚 sevens team, meanwhile, has qualified and is training at Westhills and PISE and will head into the Rio Olympics ranked No. 3 in the world.
