Vancouverites, and the rest of this country, heaved a huge sigh of relief and celebrated 129 years of togetherness and unity on Monday - Canada Day. Canada's national rugby union team will hope to continue the celebrations well into this weekend, after they meet Hong Kong in the return leg of the inaugural Pacific Rim Championship on Saturday. A win would give Canada the crown. The country's national ties were strained last year before a referendum narrowly voted that Quebec stay linked to the rest of Canada. A mere 50,000-odd votes was the difference between partition and unity.
A down-in-the-dumps Hong Kong team arrived bang in the middle of these nationalistic celebrations, departing San Francisco after the 42-23 drubbing at the hands of USA. Even the spectacle of the annual Gay and Lesbian parade, wending its way through the streets of San Francisco as the team departed, failed to lift their spirits. The mood in the camp is all that more sombre due to the broken leg suffered by scrum-half Stephen Kidd. Kidd's replacement for the Canada Test will be Murray John Wilson, who gains his first starting international cap after came on for Kidd in the American game. However, there is a determination underlying the subdued spirits of the Hong Kong camp.
Canada, as coach George Simpkin has warned, will be harder opponents than their American cousins. But the side know they have nothing to lose. And of course there are personal motives. Like winger Isi Tu'ivai who is determined to make up for a poor game against the US saying: 'I had a shocker.' Isi and the rest of the backline have not been given any time off.
On Monday the whole squad had their first training run under a blazing morning sun at the acres of rugby grounds inside the sprawling University of British Columbia where the team are staying. After a strenuous two-hour session, the backs were asked to go back for another run in the afternoon - to practice their kicking, a facet of their game with which Simpkin is clearly unhappy.
