The Martlet

Four current members of the Vikes rugby squad will compete for Canada in this year’s rugby Sevens World Series, on a roster that features the talents of eight players picked from B.C. teams. Vikes fly-half Nathan Hirayama, wing Sean Duke, wing/fullback Keaton Styles and flanker Adam Kleeberger will all suit up for the Canadian Sevens squad that will travel to Wellington, New Zealand and Las Vegas to participate in events on Feb. 4 and 12.

The announcement of the team followed a three-day selection camp at Shawnigan Lake School and included no new recruits, as Team Canada Head Coach Geraint John looks to develop a group of players already familiar with one another from previous international play.

One name notably missing from the roster, however, is UVic scrum half, and last year’s Canada Sevens captain, Phil Mack. Voted the 2010 Canadian Sevens Player of the Year, Mack will be unable to compete with the team in Wellington and Las Vegas due to injury.

This will be Styles’s second year competing on the world series circuit, while Kleeberger, Duke and Hirayama have been involved with the team for several years.

For Hirayama, Duke and Styles, the selection comes off a successful 2010 season with the Vikes, which saw their team top the B.C. Premiere Rugby Union last spring. The Vikes beat Meraloma in May to take home the Rounsefell Cup for the third time in the club’s history. In the championship game, second year Hirayama scored 26 points to lead the team to a 31-27 win at Wallace Field. Kleeberger spent the 2010 season with a club in Auckland, New Zealand.

With the Sevens World Series coming up, Vikes Head Coach Doug Tate has been forced to prepare for a major lineup shakeup.

“I saw a lot of players today and I know we’re going to have to move some guys around next week because we’ve got some guys going to Wellington,” Tate said after his team played in the first leg of the fabled Wightman Boot Competition in front of a big crowd at Wallace Field on Jan. 22. “We’re not going to be able to play that wide open; there’s going to be some guys missing.”

Hirayama scored six points on three converts in the Boot game, while Kleeberger, Willem du Plessis and Ben Thompson all recorded tries. The Vikes built an early 29-5 lead in the game, but what Tate called “unforced errors” allowed the Thunderbirds to control much of the second half and close the gap.

In the end, the Vikes were able to hold on for a 41-20 win.

The upcoming Sevens tournaments will test the Vikes players’ skills in a considerably different format. With only seven players active on the field, Sevens tournaments allow for a faster-paced and higher-scoring game than the traditional 15-player format. The games still utilize the space of a full-sized rugby pitch, but with a shorter playing time (games consist of seven minute halves, as opposed to traditional 40 minute halves), the increased amount of space makes for an open style of play in which individual skills are highlighted.

The Sevens World Series, started in 1999, consists of eight international tournaments held in seven different countries, as teams earn points dependent upon their final ranking in individual tournaments. There are 24 teams that compete in the World Series, including the reigning champions, Samoa, and New Zealand, who have won 8 of the 11 series held so far. In the history of the event, Canada ranks 12th in terms of overall points.

The addition of rugby sevens to the Summer Olympic Games, starting in 2016, has increased interest in the format. Sevens has also been included in the Commonwealth Games since 1998, with New Zealand coming away with titles at every subsequent Games. However, with the sevens game enjoying increased popularity and exposure through the World Series, Rugby World Cup Sevens, and soon the Summer Olympics, other countries, particularly those less competitive in the traditional 15-player format, are aiming to pose a challenge to New Zealand’s dominance. Canada may just be one of those teams.