This weekend is the third annual National Invitational University Sevens Tournament at Westhills Stadium, home of Rugby Canada's Centre of Excellence.
Visiting are 25 college and university sevens teams – 15 men’s and 10 women’s – Friday (March 1) and Saturday.
The entire tournament will be streamed online at www.rugbycanada.tv. Video highlights from each day’s games will be uploaded to www.sendtonews.ca.
Rugby Canada recently received Own the Podium funding aimed at boosting efforts to medal at the Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. Rugby Sevens is the newest Summer Olympic sport and Canada has the potential to medal in both men’s and women’s competition.
OTP has committed significant funding to assist both programs. This is the first time Rugby Canada’s men’s program has received OTP funding; Canada’s women’s program was funded last year. The women enjoyed an undefeated 2011 season and a top three global ranking.
The men recently won back-to-back consolation plate finals in New Zealand and Las Vegas, separate stops on the IRB World Sevens Series tour.