[ad_1]
Breadcrumb Trail Links
Canada’s women’s sevens team has left a mark on Paris, but that’s just half of the story. The women’s XV team is among the world’s best too.
Get the latest from Patrick Johnston straight to your inbox
Published Jul 30, 2024 • Last updated 10 hours ago • 4 minute read
You can save this article by registering for free here. Or sign-in if you have an account.
Canada’s players celebrate with their silver medals on the podium during the victory ceremony following the women’s gold medal rugby sevens match between New Zealand and Canada during the Paris 2024 Olympic Games at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis on July 30, 2024. Photo by CARL DE SOUZA /AFP via Getty Images
Article content
If there was any doubt that women’s rugby is rightly at centre stage, both for Canadians and for sports fans in general, one need only look at the scene after Tuesday’s gold medal match at the Stade de France in Paris.
Advertisement 2
This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.
THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY
Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada.
- Exclusive articles by top sports columnists Patrick Johnston, Ben Kuzma, J.J. Abrams and others. Plus, Canucks Report, Sports and Headline News newsletters and events.
- Unlimited online access to The Province and 15 news sites with one account.
- The Province ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition to view on any device, share and comment on.
- Daily puzzles and comics, including the New York Times Crossword.
- Support local journalism.
SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES
Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada.
- Exclusive articles by top sports columnists Patrick Johnston, Ben Kuzma, J.J. Abrams and others. Plus, Canucks Report, Sports and Headline News newsletters and events.
- Unlimited online access to The Province and 15 news sites with one account.
- The Province ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition to view on any device, share and comment on.
- Daily puzzles and comics, including the New York Times Crossword.
- Support local journalism.
REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES
Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience.
- Access articles from across Canada with one account.
- Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments.
- Enjoy additional articles per month.
- Get email updates from your favourite authors.
Sign In or Create an Account
or
Article content
Young fans, both boys and girls, seeking out autographs and selfies of the Canadian and Kiwi women who had just done battle in an epic final.
“There’s boys lined up to get autographs,” Robin MacDowell, one of Canada’s hardest-working grassroots rugby coaches, told Postmedia over the phone on Tuesday, half an hour after New Zealand bested Canada 19-12.
“Sitting in the stands, listening to the different French rugby guys — they have rugby IQ, rugby culture, they understand the details, who’s finishing a tackle, who’s rucking well — they’re just ‘oh la la.’ It’s just so cool to hear.”
Rugby heroes, simply put.
And let’s be clear: The Canadian women’s team winning silver Tuesday, pushing the best team in the world to the limit in the process, was no accident.
Canucks Report
Thanks for signing up!
Article content
Advertisement 3
This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.
Article content
Canada came into the Olympic tournament as a young squad, one that was nearing the end of a rebuilding phase. But as Hemingway once said, change comes slowly, then quickly.
And that quick part had them come just a try short against New Zealand on the biggest stage that sport has to offer.
Canada’s Alysha Corrigan (L) runs with the ball past New Zealand’s Portia Woodman-Wickliffe (R) during the women’s gold medal rugby sevens match between New Zealand and Canada during the Paris 2024 Olympic Games at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis on July 30, 2024. Photo by CARL DE SOUZA /AFP via Getty Images
Canada lost at the final step, but the tournament is a clear, unmitigated success for Canadian rugby, built off of years of foundational work across the country.
Rugby is not a big sport in Canada. Even on the women’s side, it trails well behind the likes of hockey and soccer.
But those who are involved in the game have never lacked for passion.
In the eight years that rugby sevens has been an Olympic sport — the Canadian women were among the teams involved with the event’s 2016 debut in Rio — that passion has become focused. And the women’s success has had a snowball effect — just about every young Canadian women’s rugby player cites the 2016 squad as an inspiration.
Advertisement 4
This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.
Article content
And all levels of the game are feeling the positive effects of financial support.
“The team we saw on the field today was inspired by the bronze in 2016, not just emotionally, but with funding. The funding for this team came from that 2016 success,” observed Rugby Canada Hall of Famer and CBC commentator Andrea Burk.
World Rugby is using its deep pockets to help fund both grassroots development but also elite women’s rugby. And Canada’s rugby leadership, Burk believes, has also taken the difficult lessons of three decades of professionalism on the men’s side of the game to guide how they are approaching what is now a burgeoning professional environment on the women’s side.
New Zealand sits atop the game in both sevens and XVs because they have long taken a professional approach to women’s rugby, but now England, France and Australia are too.
Advertisement 5
This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.
Article content
“Rugby Canada has learned from what happened when the men’s game went pro,” Burk says. “We look at what are we doing well, how do we keep doing it, and being honest about what we can do.”
Men’s rugby didn’t take the transition to professional rugby well. What money there was in the system was often spent haphazardly, and the development path was never standardized.
But over the past decade, two things have happened in women’s rugby: universities have built well-funded programs, and there’s been a strong push by Canadian rugby backers to build consistent funding through the Canadian Rugby Foundation’s Monty Heald Fund.
“Look at the results in the women’s U20s,” Burk notes. The Canada women’s junior XV recently beat England, a big statement about the talent and coaching quality coming down the pipe.
Advertisement 6
This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.
Article content
Silver medalists of Team Canada celebrate on the podium during the Women’s Rugby Sevens medal ceremony following the Women’s Rugby Sevens matches on day four of the Olympic Games Paris 2024 at Stade de France on July 30, 2024 in Paris, France. Photo by Cameron Spencer /Getty Images
MacDowell has seen this first hand. He runs his own rugby outfit, MacDowell Rugby, in Cowichan on Vancouver Island, helping young players across Canada find their way into what the elite end of the sport demands. He organizes tours, connects players to other coaches, and helps put players on the national radar.
Two of the women on the Paris squad are former players of his: star Krissy Scurfield — who missed out on the final day’s play due to an undisclosed injury suffered during pool play — and youngster Carissa Norsten.
“They don’t even know how good they are,” MacDowell said of what he saw on the field. Canadian coach Jack Hanratty, who is now taking over the University of Ottawa’s women’s program, rebuilt the Canadian squad in impressive fashion.
Advertisement 7
This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.
Article content
His team had few veterans — just Olivia Apps, Keyara Wardley and Charity Williams had made the Olympics before — but he built up their self-belief and tactical sense, not to mention their skill sets, in impressive fashion.
“It’s sensational,” MacDowell observed. “They’re controlling the game, they’re managing the game.”
And he sees only bright days ahead. A result like this should keep the Own The Podium funding flowing to the sevens game, and there will be positive feedback into XVs rugby as well.
But the hard work must continue.
“We have the athletes, but they’re just not going to drop off the tree,” he said. “We have to go get them.”
pjohnston@postmedia.com
Recommended from Editorial
-
Canada’s rugby women lose Olympic gold, win hearts
-
Summer McIntosh wins first-ever Olympic gold — and by quite a margin, too
Article content
Share this article in your social network
[ad_2]
Source link
Fitnessnacks – #Paris #Olympics #Canadian #womens #rugby #sevens #won #silver
Courtesy : https://theprovince.com/sports/rugby/olympics-paris-how-canadian-womens-rugby-got-to-olympic-podium