Jen Kish has quickly become one of the most recognisable faces in women’s rugby.

The Canada captain leads by example on the field, so when she says that her side are in Moscow with just one aim – to win Rugby World Cup Sevens 2013 – every team should sit up and take note.

After some ups and downs this season, Canada came into strong form in their last tournament in Amsterdam, eventually losing a thrilling final to New Zealand, and Kish is bullish about her side’s chances here.

“We are not just coming here to compete. We are coming to Moscow to win the World Cup. We spent three years working towards this tournament so if you don’t want to win why would you be here? I believe with the staff and the players we have here that we have a shot at that and it’s something well within our abilities.”

As one of the first nations to really embrace women’s Sevens, Canada quickly became the standard bearers in the game and won an array of titles, particularly in 2011 when they lifted titles in Hong Kong, Amsterdam and Las Vegas. But as the rest of the world began to invest in its women’s programmes, Canada stuttered somewhat and Kish says she’s now confident they have turned a corner.

“I think 2011 was a fantastic year for us to look back on but then lots of other nations started to centralise their programmes and catch up in terms of skills and fitness. It forced us to take a long look at ourselves and at what we needed to do to be a consistently top Sevens team and that process has helped us.

Welcome challenge

“This season we have been mixed but we are showing good form now and we feel really good. We had a disheartening tournament in Houston when we finished seventh, but to come back from that strongly and to end the Series in the final in Amsterdam against New Zealand showed that the process we are working with is definitely on the right track.”

Kish is one of the players shortlisted for the IRB Women’s Sevens Player of the Year, something she says she was taken aback by.

“It is a huge honour. There are a lot of world-class athletes on the circuit and to be even nominated is something I don’t really have my head around yet. I am not focused on that right now though even though of course it would be great. It’s a nice little bonus but something to think about later.”

Canada have been training hard in Moscow and Kish says they are primed for Saturday’s kick-off.

“We’ve had a lot of preparation so the last few days here have been about fine-tuning and it’s going well. We love where we are staying here and the Russian weather is fantastic.”

Facing the Netherlands, IRB Women's Sevens World Series champions New Zealand and Tunisia in one of the toughest pools is anything but daunting she adds.

“I think our pool is great. We are very fortunate to play top teams – you need and want that in a competition like this. Having a really tough first game against Netherlands will be really good for us. We don’t want to have a slow start and if we can win that we will be really in good shape for the rest of the day.”