Vancouver Rugby Festival Welcomes International Teams Bound for Rio2016

Vancouver, BC – January 13, 2016: BC Rugby is pleased to announce that National Women’s Sevens Teams from Great Britain, South Africa and France have officially been added to the list of competitors at the Vancouver Rugby Festival this March.

At stake in the Elite Sevens Divisions are $5000 top prizes for both the Men’s and Women’s winners, but perhaps more importantly for the women’s entrants will be the opportunity to test themselves against the same opposition they will be facing at the Rio2016 Olympic Games.

The World Rugby Women’s Sevens Circuit is currently comprised of only five official stops, and in this crucial year where Rugby Sevens will make its Olympic debut, the Vancouver Rugby Festival is quickly gaining traction as a tournament of choice for national women’s rugby sevens programs preparing their athletes for the podium and seeking top international competition.

Rugby Canada have previously confirmed that they will be fielding two teams in the women’s division as part of their final selections for the Canadian Olympic Team that will head to Rio in August. The England Women’s Sevens Team, who will compete under the British flag at both this tournament and in Rio, are currently ranked fourth in the world, while France and South Africa are ranked sixth and twelfth respectively.

It has now been confirmed that the Elite Women’s Sevens Finals have been added to the schedule of games taking place at BC Place Stadium on Saturday, March 12, 2016, where up to 26,700 fans from around the world will be gathered to witness the inaugural HSBC Canada Sevens Vancouver Tournament.
 
The Vancouver Rugby Festival, which has been coordinated around the HSBC Canada Sevens Tournament, will also include Rugby Sevens divisions for Open Men and Open Women, plus Youth divisions for Boys and Girls. A Fifteens rugby division for men’s teams with players aged 40-plus rounds off the competition.

The pool stages of the Elite and Open Sevens Divisions will take place at Brockton Oval (Stanley Park, Vancouver) on March 10-11, 2016. Games for the Youth Divisions will be held at UBC while the 40-plus men will be playing at Vancouver’s Connaught Park. 

Team entries for the Vancouver Rugby Festival are only $500, and can be completed at bcrugby.com/vanrugbyfest.
 

About the Vancouver Rugby Festival

Come join us this spring for a weekend of exciting rugby and great competition as BC Rugby hosts the inaugural Vancouver Rugby Festival!

Matches will take place just outside downtown Vancouver at Brockton Oval (Elite and Open divisions), University of British Columbia (U18 and U16 divisions) and Connaught Park (Men’s 40-plus division).

The tournament will take place ahead of the HSBC Canada Sevens Vancouver Tournament at BC Place – which will be a great way to culminate a fantastic two days of competition!

Dates: March 10-11, 2016
For more information, visit www.bcrugby.com/vanrugbyfest

More information about the HSBC Canada Sevens Vancouver

The HSBC Canada Sevens Vancouver will be a two-day indoor tournament held on March 12 and 13 at BC Place. The tournament is the sixth on the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series, and will feature 16 of the world’s top men’s rugby sevens teams.

More information about BC Rugby

The British Columbia Rugby Union, commonly known as BC Rugby, is the governing body for Rugby in British Columbia and is a Provincial Union of Rugby Canada, the national governing body. Representing over 7,500 individuals registered through around 60 Member Clubs and Associations across the Province, BC Rugby leads and manages the sport with the aim to grow participation and develop excellence in all games of Rugby and in all facets of the sport.
 
Web: bcrugby.com
Twitter: twitter.com/bcrugbyunion
Facebook: facebook.com/bcrugbyunion

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