Americas Rugby News Rugby news from across the Americas!
Rugby Canada have announced the sudden removal of John Tait as Head Coach of Canada’s Women’s Sevens program. While he is not mentioned by name, the official release confirms that Sandro Fiorino, Tait’s Women’s XVs counterpart, has taken over in an interim capacity until Mick Byrne is available and approved to travel.
No explanation for the changes has been offered by any party, though captain Ghislaine Landry informed Neil Davidson of the Canadian Press that the complaint was made by the entire team. Rugby Canada have retained an independent investigator to deliver a report on the complaint no later than mid-April.
It’s a seismic action for the team just six months out from the Tokyo Olympics. Tait has been at the helm of the Women’s Sevens side for the last decade and had recently been promoted to High Performance Director of the entire Women’s program. Under his lead the team won Silver at the 2013 RWC 7s, Gold at the 2015 Pan Am Games, and Bronze at the 2016 Olympics.
Fiorino previously worked with the Sevens program as an assistant under Tait while also running Rugby Canada’s academy program in Toronto. He will be assisted by former international Maria Gallo, who is also Fiorino’s assistant with the XVs side.
Byrne is a world-renowned skills coach who has worked with both the New Zealand and Australia Men’s sides. He had a brief role as Director of Rugby for the Austin Gilgronis in 2020, before being sounded out by Kanaloa Hawai’i as Head Coach in their Major League Rugby bid that ultimately fell short.
The Women’s Sevens side has been unable to compete since last March due to the ongoing pandemic. They are due to make a return to the field in April. It’s expected that Fiorino will coach the team until then with Byrne advising in a remote capacity.
