Rugby Canada – Ontario’s Emmanuela Jada set to make her Canada debut next weekend as Coach John Tait announces 12-player team; Canada currently tied for second in standings

LANGFORD, BC – Emmanuela Jada will become the latest Canadian to make her HSBC Women’s Sevens Series debut when she takes the field at next weekend’s Atlanta Sevens.

The 20-year-old will join an experienced team as Canada enters the third tournament of the season before returning home a week later for the inaugural Canada Sevens.

“I’m extremely excited to make my series debut in Atlanta,” Jada said. “It’s been lots of learning and hard work after transitioning into the program from university rugby. I’m really looking forward to gaining experience in the series, as this is the highest level of rugby I’ve yet to play.”

Jada has vast international experience in sevens as well 15s. She was part of Canada’s sevens team that won gold at the 2014 FISU World University Sevens Championships in Brazil and represented Canada’s Maple Leafs in Vancouver most recently. On the 15s side of things, Jada won two Nations Cup titles with the U20 team before representing the Maple Leafs last November for two matches against England ‘A’ where she made waves for scoring a wonderful 70m solo try.

“Jada has explosive speed and carries aggressively,” said head coach John Tait. “Defensively she is improving very quickly and beginning to create some positive turnovers.”

Jen Kish will once again captain Canada and will be joined in Atlanta by Hannah Darling, Bianca Farella, Sara Kaljuvee, Ghislaine Landry, Megan Lukan, Kayla Mack, Kayla Moleschi, Karen Paquin, Kelly Russell and Charity Williams. 

Canada enters Atlanta after a second place finish last time out at the Sao Paulo Sevens where they lost to Australia in the cup final. Canada is tied for second in the series standings.

“Since Sao Paulo, we’ve been working on our footwork and executing our calls,” Mack said. “Vancouver went pretty well for both of our Maple Leaf teams and we had some good results but we of course always want to build and get better so we’re working on making everything a little bit crisper and focusing on all of our basics as we head into Atlanta.”

In Atlanta, Canada will tackle France, Russia and Ireland in Pool B. It marks the third straight tournament that Canada has been drawn into a pool with Ireland, who they are 2-0 against. Canada is 1-0 against France having beaten them in the Sao Paulo Sevens cup quarters and has yet to play Russia this year.

“All three of theses teams can tackle well and contest the breakdowns,” Tait said. “Russia have speed all through their line up and can hit home runs from anywhere so we will have to be sharp and connected in our defence against them. France relies on a lot of continuity and passing to wear down defences and create a lot of turnovers from their hard-hitting style. Ireland has struggled for results but are improving rapidly each tour.

“Our focus will be on taking as many of the opportunities we create in our attack and finishing them as early and often as possible, to keep all three of our pool opponents chasing the game and under a lot of pressure.”

Canada returns home the following week for the second inaugural Canada Sevens at Westhills Stadium in Langford, BC. The tournament presents the last opportunity to see Canada on home soil before they depart for the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. Tickets are selling fast but are still available by clicking here.

The Atlanta Sevens can be seen LIVE at www.worldrugby.org and follow Rugby Canada on Twitter for live updates. 

Canada’s Roster for the Atlanta Sevens (name, club, hometown):

Hannah Darling – (Peterborough Pagans) Warsaw, ON

Bianca Farella – (Town of Mont Royal RFC) Montreal, QC

Emmanuela Jada (Guelph Redcoats) Guelph, ON

Sara Kaljuvee – (Toronto Scottish) Ajax, ON

Jen Kish – (Edmonton Rockers) Edmonton, AB

Ghislaine Landry – (Toronto Scottish) Toronto, ON 

Megan Lukan – (Unattached) Barrie, ON

Kayla Mack – (Wild Oats) Saskatoon, SK

Kayla Moleschi – (Williams Lake Rustlers) Williams Lake, BC

Karen Paquin – (Club de Rugby Quebec) Quebec City, QC

Kelly Russell – (Toronto Nomads) Bolton, ON

Charity Williams – (Markham Irish) Toronto, ON

Unavailable for selection due to injury:

Elissa Alarie – (Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue Rugby Club) Trois-Rivieres, QC

Britt Benn – (Guelph Redcoats) Napanee, ON

Magali Harvey – (Club de Rugby Quebec) Quebec City, QC 

Ashley Steacy – (Lethbridge Rugby Club) Lethbridge, AB

Natasha Watcham-Roy – (Hull Volant) Gatineau, QC

Canada’s Coaching Staff:

John Tait – Head Coach

Sandro Fiorino – Assistant Coach

Meaghan Howat – Manager

Sandeep Nandhra – Athletic Therapist

Tyler Goodale – Strength & Conditioning

Canada’s Atlanta Sevens Day 1 Schedule:

Canada vs. Russia — 12:30pm ET/9:30am PT

Canada vs. Ireland — 3:14pm ET/12:14pm PT

Canada vs. France — 5:58pm ET/2:58pm PT

 

About Rugby Canada

Rugby Canada is the national governing  body  of  the  sport  of  rugby  union  in Canada.  Rugby Football has a  long  history  in  Canada  dating  back  to  its  initial appearance in the 1860s. Since 1974, Rugby Canada has been a permanent fixture on  the  global  rugby  scene,  including  trips  to  each  of  the eight Men’s Rugby  World Cups and seven Women’s Rugby World Cups. As a regular on the Men’s and Women’s HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series, Canada continues to climb the world rankings and challenge the dominant rugby nations in both versions of the game.

To support the growth of rugby at the grass-roots level and to ensure there are elite programs for prospering young rugby players to become involved with, Rugby Canada has put an emphasis on developing its junior programs.  Our goal is to develop and train competitive teams for the 2016 Summer Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, the 2017 Women’s Rugby World Cup in Ireland and 2019 Men’s Rugby World Cup in Japan. 

Twitter: www.twitter.com/RugbyCanada

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Website: www.rugbycanada.ca 

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For more information, please contact:

Bryan Kelly, Rugby Canada

Manager, Communications and Media Relations

Phone: 250-216-5272

 

Email: bkelly@rugbycanada.ca