Canada will begin its hunt for a women’s rugby sevens medal against Britain, host Brazil and Japan at the Rio Olympics.
The draws for both the 12-country men’s and women’s competitions were held Tuesday in Rio de Janeiro. But there was little drama given the pools were decided according to standings on the world circuit.
Based on recent World Series performances, the Canadian women were seeded third in the Olympic field behind No. 1 Australia and No. 2 New Zealand. Britain was seeded fourth.
Canada split its four meetings this season with England, which joins forces with Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland to compete as Britain at the Games, but won the last two encounters.
The Canadians beat 10th-seeded Japan both times they met this season but did not face No. 9 Brazil on the world circuit. Canada scrimmage with the Brazilians and U.S. last week in Seattle.
"They’re pretty familiar to us, all three of them," Canadian coach John Tait said of his pool foes.
Tait expects the main competition in the pool to come from Britain, whose starting lineup will probably be the same as England.
The English led 5-0 early in their last meeting in France before Canada replied with five tries, including three by Ghislaine Landry, to win 31-10.
"They’ve a strong team but with the same game plan I’m pretty positive that we can come out on top of the pool," Tait said from Victoria.
Canada will name its Olympic roster July 8.
Among the men, World Series champion Fiji was seeded first ahead of South Africa, New Zealand and Britain. The Pacific Islanders find themselves in a competitive group with the sixth-seeded Americans and No. 7 Argentina along with No. 12 Brazil.
Canada failed to qualify for the men’s competition.
The top two teams in each pool along with the two best third-place teams will advance to the Olympic quarter-finals.
The Canadian women finished third on the world circuit this season, finishing on a high note by beating Australia to win the Cup in Clermont-Ferrand, France. The Australians were the class of the field in 2015-16, winning three of five events. New Zealand was second in the season standings.
The top four teams in the 2014-15 World Series standings qualified automatically for Rio. They were then seeded based on points accumulated over the last two World Series seasons.
The remaining sevens teams, including host Brazil, were ranked on their performance over the past two seasons. The seedings for those that weren’t World Series regulars was based on their performances in World Rugby events over the past two seasons.
Should the Canadian women win their pool, they would play the runner-up in Pool A in the quarter-finals. A runner-up finish would mean a Canadian quarter-final date with the Pool B runner-up.
The women play Aug. 6-8 and the men Aug 9-11, both at Deodoro Stadium.
Women’s Draw (seedings in brackets)
Pool A: Australia (1), U.S. (6), Fiji (7), Colombia (12)
Pool B: New Zealand (2), France (5), Spain (8), Kenya (11)
Pool C: Canada (3), Britain (4), Brazil (9), Japan (10)
Men’s Draw
Pool A: Fiji (1), USA (6), Argentina (7), Brazil (12)
Pool B: South Africa (2), Australia (5), France (8), Spain (11)
Pool C: New Zealand (3), Britain (4), Kenya (9), Japan (10)