At last weekend's Hertz Sevens in New Zealand, Canada booked a place amongst the top seeds in the quarter finals having topped their pool at the end of day one.
Canada impressed in each of their five matches, all against core teams, including victories against Kenya and France in Pool B of the fourth round of the 2011/12 HSBC Sevens World Series.
Their three defeats, to Australia in the pool stages, and Samoa and South Africa in the Cup quarters and Plate semis were by three points or less, demonstrating the non-core sides competitiveness amongst the Game's elite.
"We were really pleased to top our pool," said head coach Geriant John.
"I am not sure we have done that before, so it was nice to end day one when France drew with Australia to put us top.
"It is always our goal to reach the Cup quarter finals, and another of our goals is to beat the core teams to stamp a claim that we should be in the top 12 bracket, and I thought we did that at the weekend, and we did it well."
Following the recent announcement about the new format at Hong Kong, the tournament following the 2012 USA Sevens will have added importance for non-core teams such as Canada.
Core team status
The Pan American Games champions will enter the competition in the knowledge that there is the potential to become a core team on the HSBC Sevens World Series 2012/13 Series and John is hoping to carry momentum through to the tournament.
"Our aim since we started in Dubai was to prepare for Hong Kong.
"Yes we want to do well here and that is our aim, but when we go back we have four weeks to prepare for Hong Kong and hopefully we can go back with another positive from this tournament.
"It is something we have always aimed for [becoming a core side] and we have proved this year that perhaps we should be.
"There is now a format to become a core team and I think all the non-core teams wanted some sort of process, which we have now so we know where we stand and what we have to do. So it is up to us to go away, prepare and hopefully come the end of March having reached our goal."
This weekend Canada face USA, Argentina and Fiji in Pool B following the draw that took place before the Cup final at the Westpac Stadium, with John's side seeded second following their performance in Wellington.
Their first match is against rivals USA, a side they currently four points ahead of in the current standings, before facing South America's Argentina.
"The second game of the tournament is Canada against USA, and we also have Argentina, so it's like being back at the Pan American Games, with a battle of the Americas," added John.
"It will be difficult though, the USA are on home soil, they have a strong squad and have done well previously here so it will be a tough game to start."
