By Anne Duggan
Coming home has resulted in a ticket to the Rugby Sevens World Cup for Canadian national team member Julianne Zussman.
The Ottawa native and her team not only qualified to compete with the very best next June in Russia, they did it without allowing a single point against them at the NACRA regional qualifying tournament, held Aug. 25-26 at Twin Elm Rugby Park in Richmond.
Canada’s record in dispatching of Jamaica Cayman Islands, Mexico and Trinidad & Tobago is a “testament to our professionalism,” Zussman says. “While putting big points on the board, we maintained a high level of play.”
Playing at Twin Elm – a field she knows well from her time with the Ottawa Irish club as well as her high school days at Ashbury College – in front of many friends and family was a career highlight.
“It was incredible to have them all there cheering,” smiles the 25-year-old who played her first matches in Ottawa since moving to Langford, B.C., the national team’s home base.
Qualifying for the 2013 Rugby Sevens World Cup may be especially memorable, Zussman adds, since it will likely be the last one ever, with the sevens game set to make its Olympic debut in 2016 in Rio de Janeiro.
“The Olympics are taking over as the highest level in our sport,” highlights the national team member of five years.
Zussman, who is hoping to be a member of the Canadian team come the Rio Games, says the national rugby program is very solid, enabling her squad to compete at the level of the world’s best rugby countries such as Great Britain.
“It’s strong and it’s growing,” she notes. “And I can only see it getting bigger after the Olympics.”