Canada have named 16 players for their exhibition series against Japan and Trinidad & Tobago. The Vancouver tournament will be part of the preparation for the three tournaments coming up in March/April that are part of the Challenger Series to get back on the main World Rugby 7s series.
Vancouver 7s announced the schedule for the 3 day tournament. The men are playing an exhibition series against Trinidad & Tobago and Japan as part of the tournament. Canada will face each team twice over the tournament, playing them Friday and Saturday. The women start their tournament on Friday at 3:28pm against Brazil, then face Spain at 8:58pm. Their final pool game is at 3:08pm on Saturday, the women’s quarter-finals start at 7:32pm on Saturday.
It’s not what was wanted from last year’s perspective. Ideally the men’s team would still be on the World Rugby 7s series and, with the women, drawing in the crowd. Will the crowds still come without the men in the main tournament or do people just want to party and rugby is the extra bonus. We’ll find out in February.
The Canadian men have a date in March in South Africa. There they will play two back to back tournaments and hope to finish in the top 8 or their journey is over. Only the top 8 teams will move on to Poland in April, and then only the top 4 will move on to LA for the promotion/relegation tournament in May.
Canada won the RAN 7s without giving up a point but what’s next on the Challenger Series? Canada have to finish top four in that series to get a place at the promotion/relegation tournament, when again the top four move up to the Tier 1 World Rugby Series.
Canada are expected to win the Rugby Americas North 7s tournament, without USA present. The win is essential to begin the journey back to the World Rugby 7s Series. The winner of the RAN 7s will get on the Challenger 7s series and a top 4 finish there will get them in the promotion/relegation tournament at the end of the year.
The men’s and women’s 7s teams are on different paths this coming season, the women are preparing for the World Rugby 7s series which kicks off in Dubai on November 29th. Canada are in a pool with NZ, Japan and Brazil. As a buildup to the series the women are crossing the border on November 17th for a day of 7s in Portland, Oregon vs the USA and a PR7s all-star team. The press release for that is posted below.
The Canadian men will not be going to the Olympics, they lost to South Africa in the semi-finals 28-0 and then to Spain in the 3rd/4th place match 31-14. South Africa and Great Britain are playing in the final to determine the one Olympic qualifying spot. Canada did win their quarter-final match against Chile 24-19.
It was a sad day for the men’s 7s program as they lost to Spain 22-14 in the promotion/relegation game and they are out of the series for next year. We’ll cover the ramifications of that in an editorial during the week. Remaining on the series next year are Spain, Uruguay, USA and Kenya. The men now focus on the Olympic qualifier later this month.
NZ claimed the double in Singapore winning both men’s and women’s tournaments, Argentina were name league winners on the men’s side with most points accumulated over the season, NZ were league winners on the women’s side. The Canadian women finished 7th with a 17-5 win over Great Britain, the men finished 12th for their 5th tournament in a row, losing to Samoa 17-12.