Dubai: The captain of the Canadian women’s team says she is “quietly confident” of making a good start to the first ever IRB Women’s Rugby Sevens World Series.
As champions of last year’s first IRB-sanctioned women’s tournament — beating England 26-7 in the final of the 2011 Emirates airline Dubai Rugby Sevens — Canada now bear the brunt of expectation heading into this weekend’s inaugural series opener.
They face an unknown quantity in New Zealand, who they haven’t met competitively in three years, as well as Russia and China. But the four-stage series, which takes them on to the USA, China and Holland over the next few months, will give them enough time to eye up the opposition before next summer’s World Cup in Russia.
“Being part of the first IRB Women’s Rugby Sevens World Series is historic and we’re excited to be in the mix,” Jen Kish told media in Dubai on Wednesday. “Hopefully we can do well in the series and win the World Cup.
“The public has expectations of us and we expect to do well. We don’t want to give that Dubai title away. If we win it would be a huge step for us as we keep moving forward.
“We’ve put in the hard work. Some of us have been playing together since we were 15. We have that team cohesion and we have confidence in ourselves, but it’s a quiet confidence.”
Kish added: “We want a strong start to the series, but if we don’t come out on top it’s not a big deal. Our main goal is the 2013 World Cup and after that the 2016 Olympics. We’re more concerned about the process than the win.
“We know it’s going to be a tough challenge. We don’t have an easy pool and I don’t think any team here has it easy, so there’s going to be a lot of good games.
“Our toughest opponents will be New Zealand, who we haven’t seen since the 2009 World Cup. We don’t really know what they have to deliver. But for every match, whomever we face, it will be the same game-plan.”