sa国际传媒
You could almost hear the seismic shift taking place in men鈥檚 continental rugby Sunday as the U.S. defeated the Langford-based Canadian national side 21-5 in North Carolina to qualify for the 2016 Rio Summer Olympics.
sa国际传媒, loaded with players from Island clubs, must now win the last-chance world repechage next year to grab the 12th and final berth to Rio. But the bigger story is the breakthrough of the U.S. in men鈥檚 rugby, which follows up a similar emergence in men鈥檚 soccer and hockey.
鈥淭here is talk of the U.S. being a sleeping giant in our sport because of its athletic base and its financial clout, combined with the fact the Olympics are something Americans can really relate to,鈥� said Mike Chu, general manager of rugby operations and performance at the Rugby sa国际传媒 head office in Langford.
鈥淭he Americans could be a force to be reckoned with,鈥� added Chu, who will return to his native New Zealand this summer to take over as the national coach development manager.
鈥淏ut sa国际传媒 placed sixth in the world last year in sevens rugby and ninth this year, so we are trending well, too. We have the ability and coaching to win the repechage. I have quiet confidence sa国际传媒 will be at the Olympics.鈥�
The U.S. is guaranteed to be there. Maybe it鈥檚 not surprising. There was a time when people would have laughed at the notion the U.S. could beat Germany and the Netherlands in men鈥檚 soccer, as it did in friendlies last week. Or that the U.S. could take sa国际传媒 to the wire in the men鈥檚 hockey gold-medal finals at the 2002 Salt Lake City and 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
鈥淭he Americans were in-form and confident. Everyone knew they had potential and we have to give them their due. No excuses. They didn鈥檛 give us any space,鈥� said Gareth Rees of Victoria, Rugby sa国际传媒 manager of national team programs.
鈥淚 am disappointed and frustrated for our players because I know the incredible amount of hard work they put into this. But they still have the Pan Am Games this summer and the Olympic repechage next year, with a number of the sevens players also going on to represent sa国际传媒 in the [XVs] World Cup this fall in England.鈥�
New Zealand, South Africa, Britain and Fiji qualified for the 2016 Rio Olympics in men鈥檚 sevens by placing in the top four of the 2015 IRB World Series, while Brazil is in as host. Argentina won the South American qualifier while the U.S. stamped its ticket out of the North America/Caribbean region Sunday. The Asia, Africa, Oceania and Europe Olympic qualifying tournaments will produce four more teams for Rio. That will leave only the 12th spot to be decided through a repechage that could come down to a game between sa国际传媒 and whichever of Australia or Samoa that fails to come out of the Oceania qualifier.
鈥淚 have confidence in our players to go through and I believe we will still be there in Rio,鈥� said Rees.
The Canadian team in North Carolina included Oak Bay High grads Phil Mack and Connor Braid, SMUS grad Mike Fuailefau, Sean Duke and Nathan Hirayama from the University of Victoria Vikes, captain John Moonlight from James Bay and Ciaran Hearn from Oak Bay鈥檚 Castaway Wanderers.
The U.S. also won the women鈥檚 North American/Caribbean Olympic qualifier played over the weekend in North Carolina. The Langford-based Canadian team, a serious medal contender for 2016, didn鈥檛 play because it had already qualified for Rio by placing second in the 2015 World Series.
ROAD TO RIO: The Netherlands blanked sa国际传媒, with James Kirkpatrick of Victoria, 6-0 Sunday in Buenos Aires to qualify for the 2016 Olympics in men鈥檚 field hockey. Kirkpatrick gets another shot next month at the Pan Am Games in Toronto, with the gold-medal team grabbing the continental berth to Rio . . . The Canadian women鈥檚 field hockey team 鈥� with Maddie Secco of Victoria and former UVic Vikes stars Danielle Hennig, Thea Culley, Kaitlyn Williams 鈥� lost 4-2 to Great Britain at Valencia, Spain, to drop to 0-4 in its Rio qualifier. sa国际传媒 must now pin its hopes on winning gold at the Pan Am Games in order to qualify for the Olympics.
