As rugby fans and teams from around the world gear up for the return of the HSBC World Rugby Sevens, captains of the 12 womenB次元官网网址檚 sides gathered at the Malahat Skywalk on Thursday afternoon to take in the sights.

Posing next to the cup each hopes to hoist on Sunday, the players joked and took selfies together in what will surely be one of the last friendly moments before competition starts on April 30 at Starlight Stadium in Langford.

For CanadaB次元官网网址檚 women, it marks the first time they have competed in the series on home turf since 2019, as the tournament was one of many events cancelled by the pandemic.

B次元官网网址淲e are very excited to have the tournament at home again,B次元官网网址� said team captain Breanne Nicholas. B次元官网网址淚tB次元官网网址檚 definitely an advantage I would say. ItB次元官网网址檚 always so hyped up, we have our friends and family there with our home supporters cheering us on. It helps us a lot.B次元官网网址�

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Nicholas expects a lot of energy from the team and hopes they put their training to good use on the pitch.

New Zealand Black Ferns captain Sarah Hirini said her squad knows they have their work cut out for them to gain ground in the series standings having missed the first four tournaments, but theyB次元官网网址檙e excited to be playing once again.

B次元官网网址淚t feels pretty amazing to be back in the series, playing sevens all over the world,B次元官网网址� she said. B次元官网网址淲e have a pretty tough pool to start with B次元官网网址� but at sevens we finally get to play a game that we love.B次元官网网址�

The tournament is set for two full days of back to back games this weekend, starting with USA vs. Fiji at 9:30 a.m. Saturday. CanadaB次元官网网址檚 first match is at 10:58 a.m. against Spain, with follow up preliminary round matches at 2:02 p.m. vs. Mexico and the final game of the day at 6:03 p.m. against top-ranked Australia.

Follow the results online here as well as at .

justin.samanski-langille@goldstreamgazette.com
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