VANCOUVER — The first-ever Canadian tournament on the men's World Rugby Sevens Series is still half a year away, but Liam Middleton can already see its benefits.
"The bigger picture is that it's going to grow the game in Canada," said Middleton, coach of the Canadian men's sevens squad. "And for us to remain consistently competitive, the game has to grow in Canada — for us to get more rugby players at an elite level to select from."
Middleton made the comments following a news conference Tuesday at B.C. Place Stadium, where details on the HSBC Canada Sevens Vancouver men's rugby tournament, to be held March 12-13, were unveiled. Tournament organizers also welcomed two new event sponsors, the Vancouver Hotel Destination Association, and global real estate developer Grosvenor.
The Vancouver event is one of 10 in the global series, which begins in December and will include teams from the world's top rugby nations. But doing well in the World Series is not the Canadian team's top priority this season. Middleton's crew, which is currently working out at Rugby Canada's Langford, B.C., training base, has its sights set on qualifying for the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio.
"That is without a doubt the pinnacle competition of our year in terms of importance," Middleton said about Rio.
The Rio Games mark the first time that sevens rugby, a variant of the traditional 15-player game, will be included in the Olympics. Canada will attempt to qualify for Rio next June at a venue yet to be determined.
This year marks the last time Canada will go largely with players who compete in both versions of the sport. In the crucial Olympic-qualifying year, Middleton will seek players who devote themselves to sevens.
"This year, a vast majority of the players will play both forms of the game," he said. "Because sevens has pulled away from 15s, and the games have separated physically, technically and tactically, the crossover is becoming harder and harder."
Veteran Canadian player Sean Duke, who has played both versions of the game but has focused on sevens after Sport Canada decided to fund only sevens players three years ago, believes the shift in focus will pay off.
"Being able to focus mainly on sevens gives us the benefit of just having more on-field time to go through our drills and just get our habits and just play good, cohesive sevens," said Duke.
With several nation sevens team players away with the Canadian 15s World Cup team that was announced Wednesday, coach Middleton's crew now consists of players who specialize in sevens.
"We've obviously got a large contingent of what would be considered our most experienced players at the Rugby World Cup. So those guys will be in a 15s mode until mid-October. Admittedly, their preparation for the World Series is not optimal."
But, he added, training is optimal for the players currently together in Langford.
"This is the first time that (the sevens squad) has actually been able to put together a pre-season period," said Duke, adding a compressed five-month World Series, due to the 15s World Cup, has given the sevens team a better chance to prepare physically and mentally.
Middleton, a Zimbabwe native who took the Canadian men's sevens helm eight months ago, is looking to build upon successes achieved at the end of the 2014-15 campaign, when his team won the gold medal over the U.S. at the Pan Am Games and became the first Canadian rugby squad ever to beat world powerhouse New Zealand.
Canada's sevens will play in two pre-season tournaments, in Australia and Florida, in the fall to bridge the playing gap between the Pan-Ams and the start of the World Sevens Series.
"But the rest of the time, it's really about hard, physical training," said Middleton.
Meanwhile, Vancouver tournament organizers hope to benefit from a similar festival setting which was highly successful during soccer's Women's World Cup games at B.C. Place Stadium. Tickets, which include a rarely deployed $89 general admission ducat for all games, won't go on sale until Sept. 1, but all 52 corporate suites are already sold out, said Vancouver tournament CEO Bill Cooper.
