From Oz to Montevideo, Canadian national rugby teams have fanned out from Langford to the Southern Hemisphere this weekend.
sa国际传媒 opened 1-1 to begin the women鈥檚 Sydney Sevens on Friday, beating Fiji 36-12 before falling 15-14 to Ireland in a bit of a shocker. The latter result was a surprise hiccup in the Canadian side鈥檚 otherwise fine form on the season.
Sydney is the third of sixth women鈥檚 World Series tournaments, out of which the top-four nations will advance directly to the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics. sa国际传媒, the 2016 Rio Olympics bronze medallist, was second in the standings after the first two World Series events.
Veterans Britt Benn, Bianca Farella and captain Ghislaine Landry, the all-time World Series scoring leader, ran across two tries each in the victory over Fiji before the collapse against Ireland.
sa国际传媒 closed pool play with a late-finishing game against Russia and needed a victory to advance to the playoff round today.
鈥淭his year, with the Olympic qualification, we made the goal simple: We鈥檝e got to be top four in every tournament,鈥� said Canadian head coach John Tait of Mill Bay.
The sa国际传媒 Sevens, the fifth of sixth World Series tournaments, will take place May 11-12 at a revamped 6,500-seat Westhills Stadium in Langford.
The Canadian men鈥檚 sevens team, also based in Langford, begins play today in its Sydney World Series tournament in a pool that includes Kenya, France and the U.S.
Meanwhile, sa国际传媒 is set to meet host Uruguay on Saturday at 4:40 p.m. to open the men鈥檚 XVs Americas Tournament. To call this a grudge match would be an understatement after Uruguay upset sa国际传媒 in the Americas鈥� repechage to qualify for the 2019 World Cup in Japan.
The desperate Canadians eventually qualified for the World Cup, through the last-chance repechage last fall in Marseille, France, but feel they still have a point to prove against the Uruguayans.
After sa国际传媒鈥檚 game Feb. 9 in Sao Paulo against Brazil, the Americas tournament heads north for sa国际传媒鈥檚 games at Westhills Stadium against Chile on Feb. 22 and Argentina XV on March 1. Both games will be broadcast live on TSN 5.
sa国际传媒 closes out against the U.S. Eagles on March 8 in Seattle. That鈥檚 also a grudge match in the wake of the U.S. drubbing sa国际传媒 handily in the North American direct qualifier for the 2019 World Cup in 2017 at San Diego.
