Haul out the horns and Helga braids.
Five University of Victoria Vikes players or alumni will be on the sa国际传媒 Place pitch today for the host nation in the sa国际传媒 Sevens.
It is the showcase event for Langford-based Rugby sa国际传媒, which has taken some hits recently on the men鈥檚 side by going 1-4 in the XVs Americas Championship. And while the Canadian women鈥檚 sevens team came out of Langford to win bronze at the Rio Olympics, the men failed to qualify for the 2016 Summer Games and lost its $850,000 annual funding from the federal Own the Podium program.
With the lower bowl sold out, and parts of the upper bowl to be opened, 33,000 will be in attendance today and Sunday at sa国际传媒 Place to help fill those depleted coffers.
鈥淲e will try to channel that emotion the right way,鈥� said Canadian head coach Damian McGrath.
鈥淭he players are keen to show the public what we can do.鈥�
Current Vikes or UVic alumni named to the Canadian roster for this weekend are Luke Bradley of Port Alberni, Pat Kay of Duncan, Lucas Hammond, Nathan Hirayama and Isaac Kay. Also named from the Island are St. Michaels University School grads and Castaway Wanderers Mike Fuailefau and Luke McCloskey.
sa国际传媒 is ranked No. 12 in the world and has had some decent results of late by making the semifinals of the Wellington Sevens and quarter-finals of the USA Sevens in Las Vegas.
sa国际传媒鈥檚 pool games today are against Scotland, Russia and New Zealand.
鈥淲e had a lot of excitement in Vegas, thinking we need a good pool [better results lead to better seeding in the following tournament],鈥� said SMUS grad Fuailefau, in a statement.
鈥淲e needed to play well, and we got that. It鈥檚 a good pool to be in [today] and we鈥檙e excited to play in these games.鈥�
Hirayama needs just 21 more points to surpass Phil Mack of Victoria and his career record of 973 points for the most by a Canadian player in the HSBC World Series.
Meanwhile, the equivalent women鈥檚 sa国际传媒 Sevens is May 27-28 at Westhills Stadium in Langford.
Twitter.com/tc_vicsports
