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Canada’s top rugby brass are confident that rugby’s inclusion into the Olympic Games will add an new dimension to the sport in the country.

Canada's women's sevens team participated in the first Sevens World Cup in Dubai this past March, finishing a respectable 6th. On the men's side, Canada also had respectable World Cup and participated as usual in the majority of 8 legs of the IRB Sevens World Series.

Rugby Canada CEO Graham Brown is extremely pleased with the announcement and says the move into the Olympics will bring major exposure to both the men's and women's teams in Canada.

"We will have a chance to really shine at the Olympics and represent Canada well in both men's and women's sevens," said Brown from Rugby Canada's Richmond Hill, Ontario headquarters.

"We know we have the athletes to compete and with access to Olympic funding and the Canadian Olympic committee's involvement this will be an exciting few years as we ramp up what is already a well developed pair of programs within our various high performance teams."

Canadian High Performance Director Geraint John agrees, and says the success of Sevens will also help the profile and development of our Fifteen-a-side teams that will continue to compete in the men's and women's Rugby World Cup events every four years.

"It is outstanding," John said from a scouting trip in the UK. "We have been watching these developments closely and will be bringing a working group online now to activate some key initiatives that will raise the the profile of the game in Canada and help us develop the future Olympians."

First year Sevens coach Morgan Williams, a former player in the shortened form and Fifteens, says the fact his job now comes with Olympic rings is just another bonus.

"It probably never was on my radar as a rugby athlete and now coach to ever be involved in the

Olympics, so this is a special moment to be sure," he said from Victoria, BC. "I think we will see a lot of new athletes all of a sudden be aware of rugby and make themselves available because of the Olympic aspect."
A number of initiatives have been discussed that would be possibly implemented should it be thumbs up for sevens in 2016.

The Rugby Canada High Performance group are putting a committee together to look at the way forward with sevens. This group will look to bring in key people from all over the country and ask people who have a knowledge of sevens. They will look at the program and the game and promote the game as a different game to fifteens – we now have 2 sports sevens and fifteens. Group will look at:

Another strategy is to see if Sevens can be implemented into a high school schedule that would see two 'separate seasons' that would allow both fifteens and sevens.

This would allow close links for Sevens selectors and schools who created strong sevens programs.

Geraint John, Canada's High Performance Director, who is spearheading a lot of these initiatives, points to provincial structures that could be used to create provincial competitions for both club and age grade groups.

"We are also looking at running a national program and championship," he said, adding, "that will require buy in from some key stake holders across the country."

This plan could possibly include a Sevens circuit at certain locations and times.

Indoor versions of these circuits could also be considered to take advantage of normally 'off season' periods in parts of central and eastern Canada.

John says while the Olympic component is obviously a key driver, "the ability to use the game of Sevens as a developer of skilled players for the fifteens game is still a vital part of the future plans for both versions of the game."

With an eye to getting more coaches qualified in the Sevens game there will be a coaching clinic run in conjunction with the International Rugby Board the weekend of December 11th-13th in Victoria, BC.