U Sports pipeline providing Olympic medal-worthy talent to national women's rugby program

Carissa Norsten sits below her Olympic silver medal, which dangles from a shelf in her bedroom.

As she speaks about the experience with Canada's women's rugby sevens team in Paris, it's clear that the sparkle in her eyes is due to a reflection from that hardware — in one way or another.

But when Norsten, who turns 21 in November, is away from the national team, she continues to compete at the University of Victoria. Her squad is one of eight headed to UPEI for the national 15s championship, which begins Wednesday with live coverage beginning at 12 p.m. ET on CBCSports.ca and CBC Gem.

For Norsten, the Paris experience would not have been possible without her time in Victoria.

"It was a huge step in my rugby journey," she said. "If it hadn't been for U Sports, I probably wouldn't have pursued rugby the way that I did."

The women's rugby sevens squad is one of few national teams which utilizes U Sports as a development pipeline. Five members of the silver-medal group in Paris are active student athletes, while 11 of 12 competed in U Sports at some point.

Norsten said her fellow Vikes on the national team will always take a picture together on the field, as will current and former UBC Thunderbirds players. Most rugby players head west since the sevens team often centralizes in Victoria.

UBC beat Victoria in the recent Canada West championship game, concluding a tournament which included five members of the Olympic team.

"Everyone is so intertwined in all levels of rugby that it is kind of like a family. You get to play with players who have way more experience than you. Some players are just starting rugby and you just get to gain confidence and experience through that," Norsten said.

The connection between U Sports and the national team began in 1998, when women's rugby was first recognized by the national university sports body as a varsity competition.

It's a relationship that's evolved since then, with the latest development Rugby Canada's move to a one-squad philosophy in which players maintain pathways to both the sevens and 15s teams.

"There's lots of comms going on between all of us and having it be one squad, I mean, that's what it's all about. We want players to be able to get the most out of their lives and be able to invest in themselves in different parts of their lives," said Jocelyn Barrieau, who took over as the national women's sevens head coach in September.

Barrieau, who previously coached at Concordia, has been with Rugby Canada since 2023 and was also an assistant at the Olympics.

She said she plans to be at nationals in PEI, and that the yearly event is "immovable" on her calendar — barring a pandemic.

Part of the reason the U Sports pathway benefits rugby is that athletes peak later in their career than other sports, Barrieau said.

Larah Wright, Norsten's Vikes teammate, received her first taste of playing for Canada at the world university championships in June in France.

"When you see that pathway and you see all the girls that have successfully gone through U Sports and improved so much through U Sports and just had a really good time with it, and then they get to that like national level … it really motivates you," Wright said.

Wright, the 22-year-old from Calgary, said Rugby Canada's involvement at the university level has ramped up over the past two years, partly because the country does not maintain a club system like in England, France or New Zealand.

She said top-level strategy from Rugby Canada is generally passed down to U Sports coaches.

Like family

Mainly, though, she touted the family feel that's been fostered across the rugby community.

"That's kind of what it's about, right? Like everyone having fun and playing and I mean, beating each other up on the field, but it's all hugs and fun afterwards. We share meals as a team or as two teams. And I think that's what makes it feel like family is you're playing against your friends and everyone wants you to get better," Wright said. 

"And you see your friends excel at that national level. You're like, yeah, I can do it too."

She called her experience in France "one of the best I've had in rugby" and especially liked teaming up with UBC rival Savannah Bauder.

"We were enemies to friends," Wright joked. "Nah, I always loved her. But yeah, we always played against each other and we'd always joke about how we love playing against each other because we made each other better even though it was the hardest game. That's such an honour to play with those girls in the jersey.

Beginning Wednesday, Norsten and Wright will hope to use their international experience, as well as the bitter recent loss to UBC, to propel the Vikes to their first-ever national title. 

Victoria fell one win short last season, dropping the championship game to Laval.

The goal in PEI, then, is clear: just win.

"I think now we have a bit more of a fire under our butt," Norsten said. "So just going into nationals with something to fight for, feeling like we fell short and like we didn't leave it all out there, I think that's going to help fuel us."

And if that wasn't motivation enough, there's also the knowledge that Barrieau and her staff will be on the sidelines, and their next national-team appearances could be around the corner.