Question: What do Josh Lewsey and Maria Gallo have in common?
Answer: Both have international rugby careers spanning over 10 years, both have played on the wing for their countries at two Rugby World Cups. And both have scored five tries in a single match in one of those tournaments.
While Lewsey's feats against Uruguay in 2003 are much heralded - even widely re-reported following his recent retirement from the international game - Gallo's are probably confined to the knowledge of a couple of team mates, the record books and the odd journalist, yet arguably any acclaim for her achievements on home soil against Spain in 2006 would be every bit as justified.
Women's rugby has always come a distant second to men's in terms of coverage and interest and, for the vast majority, will almost certainly continue to do so. But in playing alongside their male counterparts for the first time at this year's Rugby World Cup Sevens in Dubai, the Maria Gallos of this world will finally enjoy their moment in the sun.
Like all female rugby players, 31-year-old Gallo has a full-time occupation, which runs alongside the sport she loves. Currently she is completing a post-doctoral fellowship at the University of British Columbia and next July she will become a faculty lecturer in Human Kinetics. It's fair to assume that her team talks have long words and are very well articulated.
Raised on Maradona
Gallo was born and raised in Argentina until she was 10 years old, when her family moved to Montreal. Bred more on the skills of Maradona than Porta, she played soccer as a child in both countries and it was not until her last year of high school that she found rugby in Ontario - quite typical for her time.
"I fell in love with it to the point where I never played soccer again," she told Total Rugby. "I'm still loving every minute of it and learning every day.
"As a woman living in Canada back then, I didn't know what rugby was until a friend told me about it."
When Gallo started out, rugby's profile as a women's sport in Canada was tiny. Barely anybody knew about it and those who did were too far apart to mount a credible competition. Today there are over 5,000 female rugby players in the country, a competitive number even when compared with the other giants of the women's game, England (12,500), New Zealand (11,600), Australia (2,300), France (9,000) and the USA (16,800).
"I watched a few videos before I went to my first practice so that I knew what I was meant to be doing," she said.
"Now if you were to talk to a young girl in high school, she'd know what it was. It's growing tremendously, which I'm quite proud of because that growth has come about while I've been competing. It's a great sport and there's no reason for not getting involved."
World Cup pedigree
In the three official 15-a-side Women's Rugby World Cups played to date in 1998, 2002 and 2006, the most recent of which was staged in Edmonton, Canada have twice reached the semi finals.
Never before, though, has there been a Sevens World Cup for women so again Gallo and her peers will be trail-blazers in their country as they set out to compete in one of the most competitive pools in Dubai at the beginning of March.
"We're coming into the tournament ranked third and have Brazil, Spain and Thailand," she said.
"It's very competitive but we worked really hard for our NAWIRA qualifiers to beat the USA 19-14 in the final and give ourselves a good draw.
"We saw Brazil play in Amsterdam and they definitely have some speed and agility but we're hoping to come out of that pool strongly and face some really physical sides in the knock-out stages."
San Diego warm-up
The final pieces of Canada's jigsaw should fall into place over the next few days, when they compete against the USA, England, Japan, China and a number of other sides in the women's invitational event in San Diego, the final of which will be played between matches at the USA Sevens.
With every player forced to find time outside work to train, travel and compete, the World Cup campaign has been an enterprise built on sacrifice and dedication, a throw-back to the amateur era in the men's game.
"I train pretty much every other day with four other girls who live in Vancouver, and we're so excited.
"These girls are amateur players but they are operating on a paid to play model and they do it as if it was their full time job.
"They love it, they've altered their life styles, sacrificed jobs and relationships for the team because they love rugby and this team so much. It's extraordinary."
World Cup Tickets
Tickets are available through the official website, www.rwcsevens.com, while a range of international travel packages are available to residents in Argentina, Australia, France, New Zealand, Portugal, South Africa, United Kingdom and the USA through the official travel partner Gullivers Travel via www.gulliverstravel.co.uk.
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