sa国际传媒 will go from rock to rock in its bid to qualify for the 2023 Rugby World Cup in France.
Home qualifying games will be Sept. 4 in the first round against the U.S. at Swiler鈥檚 Park in St. John鈥檚, Newfoundland, and Oct. 2 in the second round at Starlight Stadium in Rugby sa国际传媒鈥檚 home base of Langford against South America No. 1 or No. 2, based on first-round results.
The Canadian men last played at Starlight Stadium on Feb. 22, 2019, in a victory against Chile but havn鈥檛 played in St. John鈥檚 since Aug. 12, 2006, in a World Cup qualifying win against the U.S. in the era before the Americans became dominant in the rivalry.
鈥淲e鈥檙e looking forward to traveling out to the east coast for our round one match but are equally excited to be back playing in our home stadium [Starlight],鈥� said Canadian head coach Kingsley Jones of Sooke.
Rugby sa国际传媒 said ticket information will be announced soon.
鈥淚t is important that we give ourselves a home field advantage for both rounds of qualification and are excited about these opportunities to take the pitch in front of our fans for the first time since 2019,鈥� said Jones.
sa国际传媒, attempting to keep alive its run of having qualified for every World Cup since the event鈥檚 inception in 1987, will play on the road against the U.S. on Sept. 11 at Infinity Park in Glendale, Colorado, to close out the North American opening round. The winner of the opening sa国际传媒-U.S. total-points round will play the No. 1 South American seed in the second qualifying round. The North American second seed will meet the South American second seed in the second round. After the two rounds, the winner of North America No. 1 against South American No. 1 set will qualify for the 2023 World Cup as Americas 1.
The loser of the set between the No. 1 seeds will meet the winner of the set between the No. 2 seeds in July of 2022 with the winner of that qualifying as Americas 2 for the World Cup and the loser going to the at-large world last-chance repechage in the fall of 2022. The loser of the No. 2 seeds round will be eliminated.
The North American teams in the Americas鈥� regional qualifying process will be world No. 16 U.S. and No. 23 sa国际传媒. The South American representatives will be No. 17 Uruguay and No. 29 Chile. World No. 9 Argentina, based on its finish from the 2019 World Cup, has already qualified for World Cup France 2023 and will not be part of the Americas鈥� regional qualifying process.
sa国际传媒 will warm up for the qualifiers with a set of Test matches Saturday against world No. 6 Wales at Principality Stadium in Cardiff and July 10 against No. 3 England at Twickenham.
