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The inaugural Victoria International Sevens rugby tournament began at UVic’s Wallace Field amid morning rain but the action was still fast and furious as Canada won the $5,000 first prize. The total purse was $10,000.

The downpour had stopped by the time Canada defeated the top Fijian club side, Ratu Filise, 35-19 in the championship game.

“We had a simple game plan and stuck to it. This was amazing and it’s a tournament I will remember for a long time,” said Canada captain Phil Mack of Victoria.

“I hope it grows in the future.”

It will, vowed organizer Doug Tate.

“We would like to make this even bigger and take it to Royal Athletic Park next year,” said Tate.

Each of the eight teams brought their own particular brand to the proceedings Saturday.

Canada is a reliable mid-level nation on the IRB world circuit and showed it. The Cayman Islands, as a Commonwealth realm, have more than a passing flair for the game despite placing eighth. The Mexicans, new to a sport not widely played in Latin America, were preparing to put on a respectable show for the home fans at the 2011 Pan American Games in October in Guadalajara, and placed sixth.

The Fijians were as fleet-footed and deadly as usual.

“Sevens rugby is to Fijians what hockey is to Canadians,” said Morgan Williams, player-coach of the Molly Maids team, comprised of top James Bay players and several Fijians, which finished fourth.

The Mexican national team was happy to absorb any lessons the Fijians and others were dishing out.

“We are preparing for the Pan Am Games as host, but need to build player depth,” said New Zealand’s Simon Pierre, Mexico’s national team coach, who scored a major coup in March by getting Mexico invited to the famed Hong Kong Sevens for the first time ever.

“A lot of the other teams have big advantages over us right now. In Mexico, I still have to explain to people what rugby is. I tell them it’s like American football, minus the helmets, pads and forward passing. But we have big expectations of ourselves as a national team as we look to Guadalajara. We came here to Victoria with the goal of making the top three. Sevens is such an unpredictable game that you can rise quickly. It’s the kind of game where one bounce here or there can produce upsets.”

And after Rio 2016, you may not have to explain rugby sevens to anyone in Latin America, or anywhere else for that matter.

“When I played for Canada in the [2002] Manchester and [2006] Melbourne Commonwealth Games, rugby sevens was one of the toughest tickets to get,” said Williams.

“I’m sure it’s going to be the same in the Olympics.”