‘It blew everyone away’: HSBC Canada Sevens rugby tournament back in Vancouver

More than 60,000 people turned out over two days in 2016, and it was announced Wednesday that 76,000 supporters are expected to go through the turnstiles this weekend.

“I don’t think it’s a lie to say everybody was so excited about what happened with the crowd and the way everybody was received,” added McGrath, now Canada’s head coach. “It was just a terrific occasion.”

With shorter games and more scoring than the traditional 15-on-15 version of the sport, it seems like there’s something for everyone at Canada’s tournament stop. Many fans dress up in costumes, beer lines are long and there’s raucous support for all of the countries involved — except when the hosts are on the pitch.

“Really looking forward to Saturday,” said Nathan Hirayama, a member of the Canadian team since 2006. “It can’t come soon enough, but we’re just trying to not get too pumped up right now and just work and build towards the weekend.”

There were a combined 272 tries and 1,694 points scored in a rapid-fire 45 games at the 2016 event.

“I missed out last year through injury so I was pretty excited to come here for the first time,” said England captain Tom Mitchell. “(Teammates) said the crowd was amazing and the way the tournament went as a whole was a great spectacle.

“I’m excited to actually have a taste of it myself this time around.”

Despite a 5-1 record on home soil last year, the Canadians finished ninth after a loss to Wales with no time remaining on the first day pushed them into the Bowl side of the 16-team tournament instead of the elite Cup quarter-finals.

But Canada rallied to win the consolation trophy on a late John Moonlight try and Hirayama’s conversion to send the crowd home happy.

“The excitement level was massive,” said Canadian captain Harry Jones. “That extra push in that France game from the fans helped.

“It’s a massive bonus for us.”

Canada was seventh last weekend at the Las Vegas Sevens, a second top-8 finish in the last three tour stops after back-to-back 13th-place results to open the season.

The Canadians currently sit 12th in the overall standings, but McGrath said he believes this group is capable of getting into the top half of the table by the time the 10-stop tour culminates in May.

“I’ve been blown away by the quality of some of the players,” said the Englishman, who has only been on the job since October. “You coach against them, but you don’t realize how good they are until you work with them.

“The top seven players are as good as anybody around.”

With the men’s 15s team sliding down the world rankings following a disastrous Americas Cup Rugby Championship, and Own the Podium cutting off its funding to the men’s sevens program after missing out on the Rio Olympics, Jones said the impact of weekends like these for the sport in Canada can’t be overlooked.

“I think that was the coolest thing about the (2016) tournament — people who had never been involved, never seen rugby or known a rugby person said they had an amazing time,” he said. “People that don’t know the sport are coming in.

“It’s interesting, it’s fun, it’s exciting.”

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Joshua Clipperton, The Canadian Press

by Canadian Press

‘It blew everyone away’: HSBC Canada Sevens rugby tournament back in Vancouver

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