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This is the third year in a row Rugby Canada has sent a Maple Leafs men’s 7s squad to South America in January.

The previous two times have seen wildly divergent results; how will Damian McGrath’s first development group fare?

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The 11 men he’s sent under the care of McGrath’s assistant Lee Douglas and newly minted Maple Leafs coach Andrew Hall feature a quartet of players from the centralized 7s training group, a couple speedsters who featured at XVs in 2016, a couple kids from the centralized XVs group and a trio from off the radar.

In other words it’s an interesting mix. (I feel like I’ve said that before…)

Anyway, the group will play Jan. 6-7 in Punta del Este, Uruguay and again next week at Vina del Mar, Chile, Jan. 14-15.

Two years ago, the young Canadians were blown out of the water in the first tournament of the tour, the Mar del Plata 7s in Argentina, before a mild improvement a week later in Chile.

Last year, despite more experience in the squad, the team struggled again with the two competitions, playing much tighter rugby but still finishing near the bottom of the standings both weekends.

But then again, the target of the tour is to get the players on the fringe of the Canada 7s main squad more game time. It’s the biggest challenge faced by the men’s 7s coach, there just isn’t enough top-quality sevens in this country right now to bridge the gap between the world series and everything else.