Olympic champion Alicia Quirk says the chance to book a ticket to Tokyo and to make up for world series disappointment will drive the Australian sevens side to be at their best in Canada next week.
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An unchanged women's sevens side will fly to Langford on Sunday morning after coach John Manenti opted against changes to give his players to secure their place at the Olympic Games.
![Alicia Quirk will step up as a leader as Australia aims to secure ticket to Tokyo. Picture: Supplied Alicia Quirk will step up as a leader as Australia aims to secure ticket to Tokyo. Picture: Supplied](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/JENdlSLDLKe9as/25a2ed6b-269d-4a62-a0c3-96add7a8a38d.jpg/r0_0_3229_1962_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
The top four women's teams at the end of the end of the world series will secure automatic qualification for the Olympics in Tokyo next year.
Australia is fourth in the standings with just two rounds left in Langford and Paris, making next week's tournament crucial to the defending Olympic champions' hopes of sealing their spot to defend their title.
Former Royals star Sharni Williams will lead the side in Canada and Quirk is confident things can click for the team.
"Some individual effort and individual skill areas let us down in the last round [in Japan], so we want to make up for that to put ourselves in the best position to perform well," Quirk said.
"We know that we let ourselves down in key moments of games and we have to be better in those. We had so many turnovers, that's uncharacteristic of this Australian team.
"Hopefully that was our voodoo tournament and we'll be firing on all cylinders next week."
Quirk is the fiancee of ACT Brumbies scrumhalf Matt Lucas, with the pair booking their wedding date for August to fit between their busy rugby schedules.
The sevens schedule means Quirk won't get to see Lucas play for the Brumbies again this season, but the pair have become used to spending time apart to pursue their careers.
Quirk is one of the most experienced players in the Australian side, but Manenti has also been blooding stars of the future to improve depth.
"[The Olympics] is always in the back of your mind and making the top four is crucial. But right now we're just focused on fixing up what let us down last time," Quirk said.
"We do want to try to stay in that top four because you don't want to add any more stress to yourself. We're getting everyone back on their feet and firing. But in the process of injuries we've developed a lot more players, which gives us confidence we can put anyone on the field and it will work for us."