The World Rugby Sevens Series is set for March 12 to 13 at BC Place Stadium, adding yet another world class event on our city’s resume.
A variant of Rugby Union, this engaging game is played with seven aside instead of the traditional 15. Canada has been a consistent threat on the Sevens World Series circuit since its inaugural year in 1999, and the men’s team finished sixth most recently in the 2013-14 season, while the Canadian women finished third.
Over 3 million people play Rugby Sevens worldwide throughout 116 countries, and matches are known to be fast-paced and short, lasting up to 22 minutes.
The two-day tournament will allow each nation to feel out where they stand among rugby’s best, as the sport will debut as an Olympic discipline at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.
Bill Cooper, CEO of Rugby Sevens, was very excited about a new milestone for Vancouver: “This could be our Stampede, our TIFF”. Events like these will continue to spike both the economy and tourism industry. Rugby fans will come from all over the globe next March, just like they did for the FIFA Women’s World Cup just a couple months ago which was highly successful for Canada as a whole.
Canada men’s sevens head coach Liam Middleton also took to the podium today, and expressed his opinion on the competition that the upcoming tournament will exhibit:
“There is a lot of parity between the 16 teams, and the only way to deal with the emotional and physical roller coaster is to take it one game at a time. The quality of teams is increasing every year, and we hold a huge responsibility playing on our home turf at a venue like BC Place.”
Cooper announced during the press conference today at BC Place that general public ticket sales begin Tuesday, September 8, 2015, with tickets starting at only $89 for a full weekend pass, giving ticket holders access to all 45 games over the course of the two day festival.
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