The Island trio of Anton Ngongo out of Claremont Secondary and Lachlan Kratz and Jack Carson out of Oak Bay have a job to do this weekend at the France Sevens at Toulouse — keep sa国际传媒 relevant in the HSBC World Series.
The top 11 teams will stay in the World Series, which is shrinking from 16 teams to 12 for 2024. The 12th through 14th placing teams this season, along with the Challenger Series champion, will play in a special four-team relegation tournament for the 12th and final spot in next year’s HSBC World Series.
sa国际传媒, rebuilding after the mass retirement of veterans following the quarter-final appearance in the Tokyo Olympics, is in 14th place with only the season-ending London Sevens remaining following Toulouse. The Canadians are 25 points adrift of 11th place, held by Uruguay, and will not avoid having to play in the relegation tournament. The goal over the last two tournaments is to at least qualify for the relegation tournament. sa国际传媒 is eight points ahead of 15th place Japan for the final spot in the relegation tournament.
Also selected for the key France Sevens tournament are Matthew Oworu and Max Stewart out of the Langford-based Pacific Pride development program, Josiah Morra from the Castaway Wanderers, Phil Berna, Alex Russell, Brock Webster, David Richard, Thomas Isherwood, Cal Sagar and Elias Hancock.
“We’ve had a really great training block [in Langford] heading into the final two weekends of the 2023 world rugby sevens series,” Canadian interim head coach Sean White of Victoria said in a statement.
“Our focus has always remained on our processes and how we as a team can continue to compete in the daily training environment. The players have accepted the challenge and their never-back-down attitude over the past few months have put us in a great spot to go and get the job done.”
sa国际传媒 opens pool play against New Zealand this morning, followed by a game this afternoon against Uruguay and will meet Kenya on Saturday.
The big news on the Canadian women’s team heading into the France Sevens is that Sophie De Goede of Victoria, the Oak Bay High grad who captained sa国际传媒 to the semfinals of the 2022 World Cup in XVs last fall in New Zealand and was a nominee for World Rugby women’s XVs player of the year, will be joining the Canadian sevens team in Toulouse. It is the last HSBC World Series tournament of the season for No. 8 sa国际传媒, which will meet the U.S., Poland and defending Olympic-champion New Zealand today and Saturday in pool play.
The top-four men’s and women’s teams in the HSBC World Series this season will qualify for the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.
The Canadian men’s and women’s teams will host the North American and Caribbean qualifying tournaments, on Aug. 19-20 at Starlight Stadium in Langford, for the 2024 Paris Olympics.
