The samba should be the beat of choice this spring at Westhills Stadium in Langford.
The hosts will be among the Rio Olympics-bound teams competing in the 2016 sa国际传媒 Women鈥檚 Rugby Sevens tournament announced for April 16-17 in Langford.
sa国际传媒, ranked No. 2 in the world and a definite podium threat for Rio, has already qualified for the 2016 Summer Olympics along with New Zealand, Australia and Great Britain. The Langford tournament will be crucial for those teams looking to gain qualifying points for the final eight Olympic berths.
Home-field advantage will be quite literal in April because the Canadian team is based at the Rugby sa国际传媒 Centre of Excellence located at Westhills Stadium. It, however, proved sa国际传媒鈥檚 undoing last spring in the inaugural sa国际传媒 Sevens in Langford, when the national team seemed overcome by the occasion and faded to sixth place, while world No. 1 New Zealand defeated upstart Russia 29-10 in the final at Westhills.
The Canadians, however, regrouped for a better home-field performance later in the year at BMO Field in Toronto by winning the gold medal at the 2015 Pan American Games.
Regardless of the host team鈥檚 disappointing outcome on the Westhills Stadium pitch in last year鈥檚 sa国际传媒 Sevens in Langford, the tournament was a major success off the pitch.
鈥淟ast year鈥檚 event in Langford drew a crowd of 6,000, creating a world-class experience for both the athletes and fans over the course of the two-day sport festival,鈥� said Bill Cooper, CEO of sa国际传媒 Sevens, in a statement.
鈥淎s we enter into our second year hosting at this venue, we look forward to building on last year鈥檚 momentum.鈥�
Canadian team management will be hoping for a boffo lead-in to Rio.
鈥淭here is nothing more powerful than support from a Canadian crowd at what will be a critical tournament for us as we chase our goal of being Sevens Series and Olympic champions,鈥� said Canadian head coach John Tait of Victoria.
The field is not yet finalized, but expect it to be similar to last year鈥檚, which included sa国际传媒, New Zealand, Australia, England, U.S., France, Russia, Fiji, Spain, South Africa, Brazil and China.
Ticket details will be announced next month.
The 12-team Langford women鈥檚 tournament will be held after the inaugural sa国际传媒 Men鈥檚 Sevens event at sa国际传媒 Place Stadium on March 12-13.
The considerable spotlight offered by the sa国际传媒 Place stage will not only serve to introduce sevens rugby to a larger Canadian audience, but will be key in preparing the Langford-based Canadian men鈥檚 team for their last-chance Rio Olympics qualifying tournament in June.
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