Original Article – Rugby Canada

March 23, 2021 – Langford, BC: After over a year without competition, Rugby Canada’s senior sevens programs will depart for Dubai this week to participate in two Olympic preparation tournaments.  The Emirates Invitational 7s will be, a competitive training camp including two tournament weekends for a number of the best rugby sevens teams in the world.  Though not part of the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series, the Emirates Invitational 7s is a high-performance preparation event in advance of the Olympic Games in Tokyo.  The tournaments will be played over back-to-back weekends April 2-3 and April 8-9 at The Sevens Stadium in Dubai.

This will be the first competition for both teams since the global COVID-19 pandemic halted play on the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series over a year ago.  For Canada’s women, their last competition on the Series was a silver medal finish at the Sydney 7s in February 2020.  For the men, their last competition was a bronze medal finish at HSBC Canada Sevens in Vancouver last March.  The Vancouver tournament was the final stop played on the sevens series before the 2020 season was concluded due to the pandemic.

Both teams are travelling with an extended squad of players.  The Dubai tournaments will be an opportunity for all players to get valuable live match play after several months of training under strict COVID protocols in Langford.