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In rugby sevens, there’s no rest for the wicked.

Canada may have found their best finish to a tournament in two years last weekend in Wellington — finishing 4th — but with the Sydney 7s on deck this coming weekend, Canadian coach Damian McGrath was quickly planning ahead for this weekend.

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“The big thing for us this week is proving that NZ wasn’t a ‘flash in the pan’! We have to show some consistency,” he told The Province in a message from Down Under earlier this week.

But don’t think he wasn’t proud of his squad’s performance.

“We were all very pleased to finish 4th but we feel we could and should have secured 3rd place,” he said. “We have spent our time since my appointment working on a way to play that challenges opponents on different fronts. It takes time to adjust to different demands but I thought we showed good signs of what we can be capable of.”

Even more important, he said, was the team’s performance against South Africa in the semifinal. The Blitzboks went on to win the event, smashing Fiji in the final, but the Canadians met the South African physical challenge well.