THE BAHAMAS – The only thing hotter than a beach day in The Bahamas was Canada’s scorching sevens squads at the Rugby Americas North (RAN) qualifiers.
Canada’s men's and women’s sevens melted the RAN competition on April 23 and 24 in Nassau, The Bahamas to easily qualify for both the 2022 Commonwealth Games and the Rugby World Cup Sevens 2022 in Cape Town, South Africa.
Under the beaming Bahamas sun, a top prospect making an impact on both sides of the field was Canmore’s Krissy Scurfield, who’s Canada’s youngest player at 18.
“I think we all as a whole really wanted to just kind of have a blowout and just really show dominance over the other countries,” said Scurfield.
“We’re building every single competition and just having a big blowout with men’s and women’s competition just proves that we’re getting better and better every tournament.”
Two teams. Two triumphs
— World Rugby Sevens (@WorldRugby7s) April 25, 2022
It was double 🥇 for @RugbyCanada as the men and women both sealed their #RWC7s places on Sunday#RANsevens pic.twitter.com/AEP8ngAUqq
Rugby sevens is a fast-paced version of the sport played with teams of seven in seven-minute halves, but Scurfield and the Canadian women didn’t need much time to dismantle the competition, outscoring opponents 257-0 in five games.
Not only the youngest player out there for Canada, but with less than five years in the sport, Scurfield’s explosive speed and ferocity from a hockey background have aided in her development since joining the NextGen Maple Leaf Academy last summer.
She said she’s trying to prove every match that she’s deserving of her spot on the roster; though, the former Banff Bear is certainly turning heads after laying some bruising tackles and scoring five tries, including a hat-trick in the 71-0 thumping of the Cayman Islands in round-robin action.
“I think just that game knowledge is huge,” said Scurfield. “I’ve just like completely opened my brain to the entire game and simple skills just like poaching, passing, learning all the plays – all those things have gotten significantly better throughout the year.”
The Canadian women also toppled Trinidad and Tobago (44-0), Mexico (45-0), and Jamaica (64-0).
In the finals, Canada ran over Mexico 33-0 to punch its ticket to the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, England in July and the rugby world cup in Cape Town, South Africa in September.
“We’re really pleased to have secured our place at the Rugby World Cup Sevens,” said women’s coach Jack Hanratty in a press release. “It was great to get some game time into the team and to put on such convincing performances this weekend, and we are excited to continue with this cohesion going into Langford. The squad is now brimming with confidence and is looking forward to the prospect of competing in Cape Town, South Africa later this year.”
In the men's final, Canada defeated Jamaica 29-12 to claim its spot at the world cup and Commonwealth Games.
This weekend, Canada hosts the HSBC World Rugby Seven Series in Langford, B.C.
During the competition of the world's top seven nations, Scurfield and the other Maple Leaf Academy standouts will be taking on other nations’ development programs.
