Alex Russell and Lockie Kratz return from injury to bolster Canada's lineup for the Feb. 25-26 Los Angeles Sevens, the sixth stop on the men’s HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series.
Alex Russell and Kratz last played for Canada at the Cape Town Sevens in December.
The reinforcements are welcome. The Canadian men currently stand 14th in the overall standings — in danger of relegation.
The World Series is reducing the number of men's core teams for the 2024 season from 16 to 12, to equal the number of women’s teams and align with the Olympic competition structure.
The 15th-ranked core team following the 10th round in Toulouse on May 12-14 will be relegated. The teams ranked 12th, 13th and 14th at the end of Toulouse will enter a four-team relegation playoff together with the Challenger Series 2023 winners at the 11th and final round of the Series in London on May 20-21.
The relegation playoff will be a round-robin format with the top two teams meeting in the final. The winner becomes the 12th core team on the 2024 Series, while the other three teams will enter their respective Regional Sevens Championships in order to qualify for the 2024 World Rugby Sevens Challenger Series.
Canada will face No. 2 South Africa, No. 9 Ireland and No. 11 Uruguay in Pool B play at Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson, Calif.
The top four men's and women's teams at the end of the season will qualify automatically for the 2024 Paris Olympics. The New Zealand men currently top the table, ahead of South Africa, Samoa and France.
The Los Angeles tournament is the last stop on the World Series before the Canada Sevens on March 3-5 in Vancouver.
The Canadian women, who don't play again until Vancouver, currently stand 10th in the standings.
The Canadian men are coming off a 15th-place finish in Sydney, Australia, where they lost all five outings, beaten in pool play by Argentina (24-19), Australia (22-7) and Britain (33-5) before falling 35-14 to Tonga, an invitational team, and 17-14 to Spain in consolation play.
They were 14th in New Zealand, Dubai and Cape Town after opening the season with a 10th-place finish in Hong Kong.
Interim coach Sean White has called up Matt Percillier and Jack Carson for the first time this season. They both earned their first caps for the sevens team in September 2021 in Vancouver.
The 21-year-olds have been granted a short-term release from UBC to join the Canadian team in L.A. and Vancouver.
“Preparations have gone well in the lead up to the L.A. Sevens," White said in a statement. "We’ve been lucky to be able to have a significant amount of our Maple Leaf West players join us this past week to help the men’s sevens team prepare and to give that Maple Leaf West development group meaningful time together before they participate in the Elite division of the L.A. Sevens Invitational."
The Los Angeles Invitational is the official amateur tournament associated with the World Series event.
Canada Sevens Roster (with hometown and club)
Jake Thiel, Victoria, James Bay AA; Phil Berna (capt.), Vancouver, Vancouver Rowing Club; Alex Russell, Chichester, England, McGill University; Josiah Morra, Toronto, Castaway Wanderers/Toronto Saracens; Elias Ergas, Vancouver, UBC; Josh Thiel, Victoria, James Bay AA; Matthew Oworu, Calgary, Pacific Pride; Thomas Isherwood, Okotoks, Alta., Foothills Lions RFC; Kal Sager, Peterborough, Ont., Peterborough Pagans/Trent University; Lockie Kratz, Victoria, Castaway Wanderers/NOLA Gold; Elias Hancock, Ottawa, Bytown Blues; Matt Percillier, Victoria, UBC; Jack Carson, Victoria, UBC.
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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 16, 2023
Neil Davidson, The Canadian Press
