Carissa Norsten on ‘unreal’ result in front of Olympics-esque crowd

Carissa Norsten briefly stepped away from Canada’s celebrations to talk about what the team had just achieved at the highly-prestigious Hong Kong Sevens. With an Olympics-esque crowd watching on at Kai Talk Stadium, the Canadians charged home with a top-three finish.

Canada got the better of Japan and Spain during pool play, with a loss to Australia the only blip on their record across the first two days of play. After a clinical win over Fiji in the quarters and a 41-nil loss to New Zealand in the semis, the Canadians still had plenty to play for.

After a seventh-place finish at the team’s home HSBC SVNS Series stop in Vancouver about one month earlier, the Canadians improved with a podium finish at the fifth event of the season. As the men’s third-place clash between Australia and Fiji took place, the Canadians couldn’t top smiling

LA’s Dignity Health Sports Park will host the World Championship and SVNS Series playoffs on May 3-4. Don’t miss out – buy your tickets HERE.

The Canadians posed for some team photos down near the dead ball line, with those pictures marking another memorable moment in the history of women’s rugby in the Great White North. Canada, who claimed silver at the Paris Olympics, are seeing the fruits of their labor.

“It feels unreal. We’re a team who’s put in so much work, we had a lot to get up for after that New Zealand game so just really happy that our work showed there and that our grit really got us the win,” Norsten told RugbyPass.

“Having a team with a lot of new faces coming in and out, we’re showing a lot of our development players and the depth of our program.

“It’s given me a little bit more of a leadership role so just getting to learn and grow with my teammates has really helped me develop.

“In the interview on the field I was talking about this compared to the crowd at the Olympics, this is a damn close second. It’s just incredible in here. The atmosphere’s amazing.”

The importance of that result cannot be undersold.

There is only one more regular season event before the winner-takes-all World Championship at Los Angeles’s Dignity Health Sports Park on May 3-4, and that round-robin tournament takes place this weekend at Singapore’s National Stadium.

After what would’ve been a gruelling pre-season, followed by months on the road competing at events around the world, the moment of truth in LA is nearly upon all teams on the SVNS Series.

The chance to become overall SVNS Series champions is right around the corner.

“It’s gonna be really exciting. It’s so close to home, I think we’re going to have a lot of Canadian fans in the house,” Norsten explained with a smile.

“I’m just really looking forward to it.

“We came seventh in Vancouver, we’re third here, it’s really exciting. Anyone can win in sevens so it’s just a great opportunity to get to try and win the championship.”

Canada are fifth on the Women’s SVNS standings going into the final round-robin event. It looks like New Zealand will likely take out the league title for a second successive season, with the women in black needing to top their pool with Brazil and China to secure that crown.

But for those other teams, consistency is still key ahead of the World Championship. As USA’s Kristi Kirshe told RugbyPass in Singapore, all teams are effectively playing two quarter-finals as they’ve been allocated into one of four pools instead of three.

Unlike last weekend’s event in Hong Kong China, each team will play two pool matches, with the group winners moving on directly to the semi-finals. That makes each minute, moment and match crucial in the bid to win SVNS Singapore.

For Norsten’s Canada, they’ll take on Great Britain at 2:54 pm local time before an unmissable showdown with North American rival the USA in their second fixture. The stakes couldn’t be higher during this leg in Singapore, but Norsten’s Canada won’t shy away from the fight.

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