Rugby community celebrates performance on and off the field at Canada Sevens

The 35-year-old Candelon got to see both sports in action, taking in a Canucks game before taking the field with the French.

American speedster Perry Baker was equally complimentary about his Canadian rugby experience.

“I love the atmosphere here. The fans were into it. They came to watch rugby and they enjoyed it,” he said. “It was really good. I had an amazing time here.”

World Rugby and local tournament organizers were also ecstatic after seeing 60,418 fans take in the tournament over two days. That set a record for the biggest crowd to watch rugby in Canada.

The tournament sold out the 28,000 lower bowl, with organizers putting a total of 10,000 upper bowl tickets on sale as a result.

“It is mind-blowing,” said Rugby Canada’s new CEO Allen Vansen. “What an amazing response from the city of Vancouver and the fans who came out all dressed up, so engaged in this sport. … It’s been special.”

Rugby sevens is like attending a sporting party. With 45 games over two days, it’s a smorgasbord of the sport. Fans in costume add to the entertainment factor.

“The atmosphere here has been absolutely fantastic,” said Canadian forward Adam Zaruba. “We love the support. There’s nothing like it, honestly, to see a sea of red out there in our home town. It’s fantastic.”

The fans witnessed 272 tries and 1,694 points scored over the two days. They also saw speed merchants like Baker and New Zealand’s Gillies Kaka, perhaps the fastest man-bun in cleats, turn on the afterburners while human battering rams like the six-foot-five 265-pound Zaruba and hard-nosed American Danny Barrett ran over would-be tacklers.

The Fijians delighted with their Harlem Globetrotter-like handling skills, holding onto the ball with one hand as they fended off an opponent or flew down the field.

With the sport about to debut in the Olympics, fans also got to see crossover test rugby stars Bryan Habana of South Africa, Liam Messam of New Zealand and Quade Cooper of Australia in action.

The crowd showed its class by clapping every team off the field, be it tournament winner New Zealand or fledgling Brazil.

Mark Egan, World Rugby’s head of competition and performance, said reaction to the Canadian tournament has been “very positive.”

“When I came here and saw this venue four years ago … my first impression was we have to be here,” said Egan. ”Rugby Canada deserved to have a big World Rugby event and this is the one they’ve been looking for for many years. It’s great to see it so successful in its first year.”

Credit the Women’s World Cup of soccer for a helping hand. It prompted new artificial turf at B.C. Place, which met World Rugby standards. The turf compared favourably to that used at the previous stop in La Vegas, which caused some abrasions to the players.

There is talk of opening up the entire stadium next year, as well as importing the women’s sevens event currently held in the Victoria area to Vancouver and making the Canada Sevens a combined three-day event.

On the list of things to do is improve stadium concessions. There were long lineups for beer with vendors perhaps not understanding the ebb and flow of demand during a day with 20-plus matches, not one.

“It’s a typical problem of a first-year event,” said Egan. “We had the same issue in Cape Town in December.”

Judging from Saturday’s crowd, many fans still got to drink their fill.

Canadian organizers have the event for at least the next three more years and hope to make it a fixture on the calendar. The event is expected to make a profit on its $7.5-million budget straight out of the box.

In addition to helping fund the sport, Rugby Canada hopes the event will serve as a showcase for rugby — attracting fans and players. They will get another shot in June when B.C. place hosts a first ever test match between Canada and Japan.

The week was filled with rugby with the accompanying Vancouver Rugby Festival showcasing women in conjunction with provincial under-18 and university championships.

On the field, the Canadian men deserved better than ninth after winning five of six games. But they shot themselves in the foot with an opening loss to Wales on a try with no time remaining on the clock. Needing to beat Russia by 30 points in its final pool game to make the elite Cup quarter-finals, Canada won but fell short of the required target in a 29-12 victory and was consigned to the consolation bracket.

“I thought we played good enough to be a top-four side and we believe we’re a top-four side,” said coach Liam Middeton.

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Neil Davidson, The Canadian Press

by The Canadian Press

Rugby community celebrates performance on and off the field at Canada Sevens

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