Historic bronze-medal win in women's rugby could grow the game at home

Local rugby players think the Canadian women's rugby bronze-medal win in Rio on Monday could be great for growing the game at home.

Winnipegger Arleigh Mackenzie has been playing rugby for 25 years and has hopes the Olympic medal will increase the popularity of the sport in Canada.

"I think exposure like that hopefully inspires some young females to give rugby a try," Mackenzie said, adding that the win opens up a whole new world of opportunity for young players. "We're always trying to develop rugby, especially at the youth level.

"You could pick up the sport and in five to 10 years you might be at the next Olympics."

After losing 22-0 to Great Britain in preliminary pool play, the Canadian women's rugby sevens team rebounded from that defeat and beat the Brits 33-10 in the final match.

Women's rugby made its Olympic debut in Rio. With this win, Canada has now claimed a medal in every rugby sevens event at the Olympic Games, World Cup, Sevens Series circuit overall and Pan Am Games since 2012, for a total of seven medals in seven attempts.

For non-professional players at home, the team's most recent win is extra special.

"Knowing the work that these girls have put in to make it that far, the things that they've sacrificed, it's just unreal how hard they've had to work to get to that level and I'm just proud of them," Mackenzie said.

Mackenzie started playing rugby at Kelvin Collegiate when she was just 14 and still plays in the province's women's sevens team senior league. Now 39, Mackenzie says she was hooked by the physicality and competitiveness of the game from the first time she stepped on the pitch.

The provincial league has six teams in Winnipeg and another in Brandon, with women of all skills levels from the age of 16 and up. Mackenzie hopes the attention and excitement around the national team will encourage more girls to try out the sport locally.

"You never know — you could become an Olympian."