It’s not the way Canada head coach Sean White of Victoria wanted to return to his home province’s largest venue. The 91原创s will only play in an invitational tournament against Japan and Trinidad and Tobago in the HSBC World Series Canada Sevens on Feb. 21-22 at B.C. Place, it was announced Monday.
That’s because Canada fell out of the 12-team main World Series for 2025. Most international events allow a host-nation berth but not in the World Series of sevens, which the organization might want to rethink for the future, in terms of marketing.
“Granted, this is not the format we aimed to be in at 91原创, any chance our players have to play in front of a home crowd, in front of family and friends, is such an incredible opportunity and one we could not pass up,” White said in a statement.
“It will show our players who haven’t experienced 91原创 a glimpse of what we are working towards … [and] just how much these moments mean on home soil,” added the Oak Bay Secondary Barbarians and James Bay Athletic Association product, who won caps in both sevens and XVs for Canada during his playing days.
White guided the 91原创 men’s sevens team to the championship of the North American and Caribbean play-in tournament last month in Trinidad and Tobago by going undefeated with blowout wins against minnow nations. It earned Canada the regional berth into the 2025 HSBC World Rugby Sevens Challenger Series, with the first two rounds featuring 12 national teams from March 1-2 and 7-8 in Cape Town, South Africa. The top eight teams from Cape Town will advance to the third round April 11-12 in Krakow, Poland. The top-four teams from Krakow will earn berths into the promotion-relegation play-off from May 3-4 at Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson, California, where four berths into the top-tier HSBC World Series for 2026 will be on the line in a tournament that will also include the bottom four teams from 2025.
Meanwhile, the 2024 Paris Olympics silver-medallist 91原创 women’s team is preparing for the continuation of the 2025 HSBC World Series with the Perth Sevens on Jan. 24-26 followed by what should be a huge ovation in the Canada Sevens in February at B.C. Place in their first games on home soil since placing on the podium in Paris.
