聽The Langford-based Canadian men鈥檚 and women鈥檚 rugby sevens teams begin play today at AT&T Park in San Francisco in their respective World Cup tournaments that are both direct and to the point.
The World Cups for both men and women feature an unforgiving single-loss-knockout format. There is no group play.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 big pressure right from Day 1,鈥� said St.聽Michaels University School graduate and Canadian men鈥檚 player Mike Fuailefau of Victoria.
sa国际传媒 opens today against Papua New Guinea in the men鈥檚 World Cup.
鈥淭here are no second chances to win the championship,鈥� said Canadian player Connor Braid of Victoria.
鈥淟ose one and you鈥檙e done. Win and you stay in. We鈥檙e top-10 in the world and so I think we have a medal opportunity.鈥�
(There is a consolation round that teams will go into after a single loss, but with no chance to rejoin championship-flight play).
The Island-tinged world No. 9 Canadian men鈥檚 team includes Fuailefau and fellow SMUS-grad Luke McCloskey and Oak Bay-product Braid, all of Victoria, Pat Kay of Duncan, University of Victoria Vikes star Isaac Kaay, former UVic Vikes great Nathan Hirayama, Andrew Coe of Markham, Ont., Admir Cejvanovic of Burnaby Lake, Justin Douglas from Abbotsford, Lucan Hammond of Toronto, Matt Mullins of Belleville, Ont., and captain Harry Jones of North Vancouver.
鈥淚t shows the strength of Island rugby,鈥� said Kay, a Cowichan High product.
鈥淚 played with and against many of these guys growing up.鈥�
The Canadian women鈥檚 team, which includes Caroline Crossley of Victoria, will open against Brazil today in the stadium by the bay.
Joining Oak Bay High-grad Crossley on the 2016 Rio Olympics bronze-medallist Canadian women鈥檚 squad are Pam Buisa of the UVic Vikes, Kayla Moleschi of Williams Lake, Charity Williams of Toronto, Olivia Apps of Lindsay, Ont., Britt Benn of Napanee, Ont., Bianca Farella of Montreal, Julia Greenshields of Sarnia, Ont., Sara Kaljuvee of Ajax, Ont., Breanne Nicholas of Blenheim, Ont., Natasha Watcham-Roy of Gatineau, Que., and captain Ghislaine Landry of Toronto.
鈥淏ecause of the [single-loss elimination and no group play as in normal World Series tournaments] format, you have to be focused on every game,鈥� said Williams.
The 2018 World Cup features the top 24 men鈥檚 and top 16 women鈥檚 teams in the world and runs through Sunday in the Bay Area.
