VANCOUVER—Breanne Nicholas never slacks off.

How hard she trains, how well she learns tactics and how she deals with pressure — it’s all part of an ongoing test, and the potential prize is a spot on Canada’s rugby sevens squad for the Rio Olympics.

But ultimately, it’s how she and a handful of others under consideration can handle the speed and hard-hitting play at the international level of the game that will determine whether they secure one of the coveted 12 spots on the Rio roster.

But game minutes are hard to come by in women’s sevens rugby, especially since the World Series was cut back to five tournaments — just half what the men have — this season.

That’s what makes the Vancouver Rugby Festival’s three-day elite women’s tournament so important in helping to determine Canada’s Olympic team.

Head coach John Tait has entered two women’s teams to give 22 players, including younger and less experienced ones, the opportunity to play and, hopefully, impress him.

“It’s a chance to look at the depth and who is going to make up the last few spots,” Tait said, of his senior squad, which has been more fluid this season because several top players have been out injured.

Nicholas, a 22-year-old from Blenheim, Ont., was only brought into the national sevens program, centralized in Victoria, last May.

“Playing club rugby, you’re one of the top people and everyone looks up to you,” she said. “Then you come here and you’re looking up to everyone else and trying to make your way up.”

Nicholas made her international debut with the team in the six-game Sao Paulo tournament last month and got “max, four minutes” of playing time as a sub in the dying seconds of games.

“You need more experience to make the squad, but to get the experience I need to play and there aren’t many opportunities to actually play,” she said, summing up the challenge for her and other up-and-comers.

But here, at the Brockton Oval in Stanley Park, instead of waiting on the sidelines hoping for the call to go in just before the final whistle, Nicholas was a starter for Canada’s less experienced Maple Leaf White team.

“It’s great,” she said, two days into the tournament. “I finally got some valuable playing time instead of just training and doing lots of watching. It’s good to try and apply what I’ve learned in practice and our team is working well together.”

Nicholas scored her first try of the tournament — a 60-metre sprint dodging defenders along the way — in their Friday win over the USA Falcons.

“Everybody likes to put up points, it makes you feel more accomplished,” she said, smiling.

Canada’s two teams are undefeated over three games. Saturday morning, Red takes on Great Britain while White faces France, and the afternoon finals will be played at BC Place (which is hosting the men’s Sevens World Series tournament) before the largest-ever audience for rugby in Canada.

“It’s an opportunity to play, and that’s what we’re most excited about,” said Megan Lukan, a crossover athlete who played four years of NCAA basketball before returning to her high school sport of rugby.

Barrie’s Lukan and Toronto’s Charity Williams were among the less experienced players who got plenty of game time for White while Guelph’s Emmanuela Jada got her time with the Red team.

“In basketball we played 30 games in four months . . . in rugby it’s every two or three months you’re playing a tournament for two days and then that’s it,” Lukan said.

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She’s hoping for an all-Canadian final Saturday.

“For the top team (this tournament) is doing what they do, they’re good at it, if they execute everything no one should touch them,” she said.

“For everybody else it’s us trying to set the tone and say ‘hey we can play here too.’ ”