Skip to content

VIDEO: Canada hosts the Women's Rugby 7s world in Langford

This weekend's sevens series tournament is good to go at Westhills Stadium, as Ashley Steacy and Co. go for a home-cooked win.
59368BCLN2007s_RGU-Sevens-Women20150417T1430
Acting captain Ashley Steacy leads Team Canada into this weekend's World Rugby Women's Sevens Series


*A previous version of this video was broken. It has been fixed.

They're practicing in Victoria, but their minds are in Rio.

Canada's women's sevens team is prepared and ready to host this weekend's World Rugby series championship, which goes Saturday and Sunday at Langford, B.C.'s Westhills Stadium. And while they're focused on picking up a first-ever win at the tournament – this time on home soil – the Olympics are only over a year away, set for summer, 2016 in Brazil.

A win or a decent showing would push the Canadians – who are playing without captain Jen Kish – closer to Olympic qualification.

"To know that it's a possibility, and opportunity to go to the Olympics with this sport is massive, I think," said acting captain Ashley Steacy on Friday in Victoria. "Rugby is definitely a growing sport in Canada."

The 2016 Games is the first time sevens rugby will be in the Olympics, and it is guaranteed a spot in the 2020 Summer Games (Tokyo) as well.

Rugby was last played in the Olympics in 1924, when it was union, not sevens or Australian rules.