Excitement is building for the upcoming HSBC Canada Women’s Sevens rugby weekend at Langford’s Starlight Stadium.
For the players, they’ll hope to arrive back home for the April 30 and May 1 event having solidified their bid to qualify for the 2022 Rugby Sevens World Cup in South Africa.
This weekend, the Canadians are among six women’s teams competing in Nassau, Bahamas, at the Rugby Americas North (RAN) qualifying tournament. They’ll play round-robin matches against Trinidad and Tobago, Mexico, Jamaica, Dominican Republic and Cayman Islands, with the top two advancing to Sunday night’s championship final on April 24.
Fans can watch the action, along with Canadian men’s sevens matches streamed live on the RAN website starting Saturday at 6 a.m. Victoria time. Canada’s men play British Virgin Islands in their first match at 7:06 a.m. while the women open against Trinidad and Tobago at 7:50 a.m.
Among the players on the roster for the RAN qualifier and likely for the Canada Women’s Sevens in Langford are Olympians Bianca Farella and Keyara Wardley, UVic Vikes Krissy Scurfield and Pamphinette Buisa and Westshore RFC’s Elissa Alarie and Fancy Bermudez.
As far as Canada’s place among the leading sides on the World Rugby HSBC Sevens Series, it has fallen since the last time Langford hosted an event, but the Canadians still come into the two-day, 12-team event ranked eighth overall. After finishing eighth in the first two series stops in Dubai last fall, Canada placed sixth and seventh in Malaga and Seville, respectively.
They’ve got series-leading Australia, Spain and Mexico in their pool, with Canada’s matches scheduled for 10:58 a.m., 2:02 p.m. and 6:03 p.m. Saturday (April 30).
Tickets for the weekend events are selling quickly but can be purchased online at canadasevens.com/womens.
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