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The “moment” Jake Thiel thinks a burst of confidence pushed all his anxieties aside was shortly before halftime in a game last week against the New Zealand All Blacks, with the bright lights of Las Vegas’s Sam Boyd Stadium shining down.

Thiel and his Canadian teammates were on the attack, looking for a try that would keep the score close and set up what they hoped would be an epic second half.

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The Canadians scored — Mike Fuailefau eventually barging over — but it wouldn’t have happened without a pair of slick passes while being tackled by Admir Cejvanovic

In Thiel’s case, he found himself in tight quarters, but did everything right and freed Cejvanovic, who flipped a pass to Fuailefau seconds later.

It was a perfect example of the type of power-based, straight-line rugby the Canadians have made their signature brand under head coach Damian McGrath the last two-plus seasons.

“I got the ball and I just looked up and thought ‘oh man I don’t know what I’m doing right now and then I ran a line and off-loaded over the top,” the 21-year-old Thiel said this week ahead of the Canada Sevens, which kicks off Saturday at B.C. Place Stadium (first game at 9:30 a.m., Canada’s first game against Samoa is at 11 a.m.).