Teena in Toronto: Rugby Sevens, Pan Am Games, Toronto, ON

Gord and I went to the rugby sevens games starting at 4pm this afternoon as part of the Pan Am Games at BMO Field (aka Pan Am Park). It was in our 'hood, it was a fun and different way to spend a Sunday afternoon (watching a sport I know nothing about but got right into!) and Canada's women and men's teams could win gold.

Rugby sevens teams are made up of seven players instead of 15 as in rugby union. Its shorter matches consist of two seven-minute halves. This full-contact game is played on a standard rugby union playing field measuring 100 metres by 70 metres (109.4 yards x 76.6 yards). Players run while holding the ball and cannot pass the ball forward — it can only be passed laterally or backwards. Teams score points by either kicking the ball through the goal posts or touching the ball down in the other team’s goal area.

There were lots of volunteers along the way to let us know where to go.

Thanks, Bea!

We got there about 3pm, which is when the doors open. Though we had tickets and knew what section we were in (224), the seats were general seating (first come, first serve). We ended up with great seats ... in the front row in the second level.

The line to get in moved pretty quickly

Pachi the porcupine is the Pan Am mascot ... he has 41 colourful quills to represent the 41 countries in the games.

There were eleven games in total this afternoon. Though they were fun to watch, we were most interested in the games in which Canada was playing.

Canada and USA played to see who was going to go to the gold medal match.

Needless to say, the 18,000 fans in the stadium were mostly Canadian.

And the game began ...

It's a funny game. When someone gets hurt, they keep playing, even though medics are rushing to the injured player. When there is a stop in play, paramedics have a chance to bring out a stretcher and then take the player away.