Make another long-standing rugby rumour official: the Women’s Sevens World Series is coming to Langford.
In a brief announcement, the International Rugby Board confirmed two new stops on the now six-tournament strong series: London, U.K. and Langford, B.C.
Next April, the Rugby Canada Centre of Excellence in the Victoria suburb will host two days of seven-a-side rugby. It’s an exciting step for a program that’s hoping to add another big fish in 2016: a stop at BC Place for the men’s series.
The women’s series is a smaller scale. To date, it’s struggled to attract crowds. Four of the previous five stops have been retained – Dubai, Sao Paulo, Atlanta and Amsterdam – while the stop in Guangzhou has been dropped. The addition of stops in Canada and London are smart ones. Both stand a good chance of attracting solid crowds, given their long-standing tradition of hosting sevens events.
And one more thing: an ambitious thought. You could interpret the addition of the Langford stop as a good sign for the Vancouver bid for a men’s stop. The 2015-16 schedule will be set in October 2014 – its believed the Canadian bid has a strong chance of being included in the 10 stops. (There’s also a good chance of two more stops being added in subsequent seasons.)
So, given that, could Langford be the dress rehearsal for a bigger event a year later at BC Place?
