World class rugby competition is on its way to Greater Victoria as Rugby sa国际传媒 announced Thursday afternoon that the Americas Rugby Championship will be played Oct. 12-20 at Bear Mountain Stadium in Langford.
The round-robin international 15s event features sa国际传媒 and the United States representing North America, and Argentina and Uruguay serving South America.
Games will be played Oct. 12, 16 and 20 with sa国际传媒 first drawing Uruguay, then the U.S. and ultimately Argentina. Doubleheader games will go at 5: 30 and 7: 30 p.m. each evening with the hosts competing in the more popular late draw. The U.S. and Argentina kick it all off on Oct. 12.
"How exciting is this?" said an exuberant Mike Chiu, Rugby sa国际传媒 general manager, rugby operations and performance.
"When the IRB [International Rugby Board] talked to Graham Brown [Rugby sa国际传媒 CEO] and myself saying there was an opportunity for you to host this tournament, It was a nobrainer, really."
Argentina was originally supposed to host the event, but was unable to.
"We have had amazing community support and I know that the whole community here in sa国际传媒, Victoria and Langford is going to get behind us. It's not going to be easy pulling off a tournament in such short notice, but we're confident that we'll get lots of support to really knock this out of the park."
Organizers are hoping for sellouts on each day of competition with capacity slotted at 2,800.
Argentina and Uruguay are expected to bring their 'A' level teams with players who have competed at the World Cup level.
Canadian senior men's coach Kieran Crowley will select his squad from members of his current national team and players currently competing at the national championships.
"It's more a domestic national team," said Crowley. "We have about eight or nine players overseas who won't be included in this.
But national team players, within the country, will be included."
The goal is to look forward to possible World Cup representation for 2015.
"This gives us a great opportunity to develop a bit of depth at certain positions," Crowley said of his recruits. "It gives players opportunity. We have a bigger picture in mind, but you also want to do as well as you can in any competition you're in."
This will be the third edition of the Americas Rugby Championship, coming off a one-year hiatus due to the 2011 World Cup and organizers will have only six weeks to put it all together.
"Hopefully, we can fill it. That's up to the public," said Crowley. "Hopefully, we can fill it for the first game and performances on the field will want people to want more and encourages them to come back."
Argentina is ranked No. 8 in the world by the IRB and Uruguay is 21st. sa国际传媒 is rated 13th with the U.S. at No. 17.
sa国际传媒 is coming off securing spots in the Rugby 2013 World Cup 7s event in both men's and women's competition, having claimed berths for Moscow last weekend in a North American competition in the Ottawa area.
"We are really looking forward to this tournament and we just can't wait to kick off," said Chiu. "It's a little bit of short notice, but you can't turn this down. I'm pretty new to sa国际传媒, only having been here six months in my role, by I know we get a lot of support.
"The support around Langford, for what we're trying to achieve, has been fantastic," added Chiu, who worked for New Zealand Rugby for the last nine years. "If we can turn that support into bums in seats, that would be great."
Tickets will go on sale Sept. 7, with more information on pricing becoming available soon at americasrugbychampionship.com. [email protected]
