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When you go to the Cayman Islands, rain is usually just an annoyance.

It’ll fall once in a while. And when it does, it can make a mess.

Then the sun comes out and all is well again.

In field sports the weather, they say, is the great equalizer. And Thursday morning, as the Canadian men’s sevens team was set for a day of touring Grand Cayman, a day of clearing their minds ahead of this weekend’s North American Olympic qualifying tournament, the sky burst open, delaying their plans.

It rained down in fat drops twice more over the course of the afternoon. Organizers say they’re not worried about the picture for the weekend.

According to the weatherman, the chances the pitch will be more of a bog come Saturday morning, when the qualifier kicks off with both men’s and women’s competitions, winners on both sides headed for Tokyo 2020, seem low: the forecast shows days and days of sunshine on the horizon, with the odd cloud passing through.

Even if the rain did turn out to affect the condition of the pitch at Truman Bodden Sports Complex, the George Town facility that is hosting the Rugby Americas North-run event, Canadian interim head coach Henry Paul isn’t worried.

“Affects everyone,” he said over the phone from the Caribbean.

The Canadians, after all, have to execute their game no matter the conditions.

If anything, it will be the heat and the humidity that will be difficult for the Canadians, who are used to the temperate weather on Vancouver Island. Paul and his staff did try things like hot yoga in an effort to get the team a little more attuned to exercising in humid conditions.