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Rugby Sevens can be seen as the trendy variation that has upended the established order. (Don鈥檛 look now, but three-on-three basketball will make its Olympic debut at Tokyo 2020). Yet it鈥檚 the traditional XVs that is still considered the beating heart of rugby.
Karen Paquin and Kelly Russell have gone back to the latter after winning a bronze medal with the Langford-based Canadian women鈥檚 sevens at the 2016 Rio Olympics.
No. 8 Russell is set to captain No. 3-ranked sa国际传媒, in her 50th Test match, with Paquin to start at open-side flanker, today against No. 10-ranked Wales (9 a.m. PT, TSN) in the 2017 World Cup being played in Ireland.
鈥淴Vs has brought back for me the true value of rugby . . . which is club and community,鈥� Paquin said.
Having to relocate the past several years to the Rugby sa国际传媒 Centre of Excellence national team鈥檚 base on the Island, the Quebec native has found her club and community environment at Windsor Park in Oak Bay with the Castaway Wanderers.
Toronto鈥檚 Russell, meanwhile, plays for Cowichan RFC.
It may seem counterintuitive, but Paquin and Russell have noted the speed of decision-making in XVs takes some getting used to again after the acres of empty field space players get to exploit in sevens.
鈥淐ontact comes so quickly in XVs and you have to make decisions on the ball so much faster,鈥� Paquin said.
Joining Paquin on the World Cup Canadian team from the Castaway Wanderers are Brittany Waters, Julianne Zussman and Olivia DeMerchant. Joining Kelly Russell at the World Cup from Cowichan RFC are her sister Laura Russell and Tyson Beukeboom. The Westshore RFC (former Velox) juggernaut, which has won the sa国际传媒 championship four of the past five years, is well represented with Barbara Mervin, Emily Belchos, Elissa Alarie, Latoya Blackwood, Chelsey Minter and Brianna Miller.
sa国际传媒 began the World Cup with a 98-0 blowout of No. 23-ranked Hong Kong.
sa国际传媒 concludes pool play Thursday at 4 a.m. PT against top-ranked New Zealand. The semifinals are Aug. 22 at 9 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. PT and the championship game Aug. 26 at 11:30 a.m. PT. All Canadian games are broadcast on TSN.
There are 10 players making their World Cup debuts on a Canadian squad that features 18 returnees from the silver-medallist 2014 World Cup squad. Four players are appearing in their third World Cup.
