1
Olympic qualification on the line with 2023 Oceania Rugby Sevens Championship
Rugby Sevens will once again be on the Olympic programme at Paris 2024 with the world’s 12 best men’s and women’s teams competing at the iconic Stade de France in Saint-Denis from 24 to 30 July 2024.
ADVERTISEMENT
With qualification for Paris on the line, Brisbane’s Ballymore Stadium is all set to host the 2023 edition of the annual Oceania Rugby Sevens Championship on 10-12 November.
The three-day tournament will feature 25 teams, 15 men’s and 10 women’s teams, from 14 countries in the region.
The top placed men’s and the top placed women’s teams in the Olympic qualification sections of the 2023 Oceania Rugby Sevens Championship will qualify to the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Buy Oceania Sevens tickets
The tournament draws will comprise both an International (pre-qualified Paris 2024 and non – IOC teams) and Olympic section (teams vying for Paris 2024 qualification) and will be played concurrently over three days.
The initial stages of the draw in the Olympic section are designed to satisfy Olympic Qualification criteria before the draws are merge into the overall Oceania Rugby Sevens crown deciders.
The women’s Olympic section of the tournament will feature reigning Olympic bronze medallists Fiji, American Samoa, Cook Islands, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, and Vanuatu all vying for the sole qualification spot to Paris 2024.
The men’s Olympic section will see these national teams and others battle it out for a final spot joining Australia, New Zealand and Fiji, the double Olympic champions who are aiming for a historic hat-trick in Paris.
ADVERTISEMENT
The top Pacific Island nations, Tonga, Fiji, and Samoa, are buzzing for some game time after a long break from the HSBC SVNS Series and World Rugby Challenger Series.
Tonga in particular will be seizing the opportunity to create history and qualify for the 2024 Paris Olympics for the first time for their island nation. Men’s Sevens Coach Tevita Tuifua said securing a direct Olympics qualification spot would mean more than just a sporting achievement.
“It represents not only a chance to showcase our talent on the global stage but also a testament to the hard work and dedication of our players, support staff, Tonga Rugby Union, and government. It would be a source of inspiration for our entire nation.”
Like Tonga, Samoa’s Men’s Coach, Brian Lima, says making it to Paris is at the top of the agenda for his men.
ADVERTISEMENT
“We have been preparing well since the end of the HSBC series, despite losing some of our key players like Vaa Maliko. Although we were extremely disappointed that we missed out on automatic qualification, we are aware that the Oceania 7s is perhaps our best chance to qualify, with New Zealand, Fiji, and Australia having already qualified. It is critical that we make use of this opportunity because, should we fail, the chances will be even more difficult, with South Africa, Great Britain, and Ireland also vying for the remaining spots in the final Olympic repechage next year”.
Fijiana 7s Coach Saiasi Fuli said they will use this competition as a platform to gain some game time while keeping an eye on the prize.
“It’s a massive opportunity for us as a team to prepare well and play in these upcoming Oceania 7s. We are into our preseason phase, and our girls are looking forward to playing in the Oceania 7s and trying to secure a spot for the Paris Olympics. We missed out on the series until the final day in Toulouse, and we as a group had set our goal to rest well, recover, and prepare for the qualification.”
Across three days of competition, 66 matches (35 men’s and 31 women’s matches) will be played in thrilling sevens action.
There will be an exciting raft of entertainments during the three days, with DJs representing their different islands nations, like Samoan DJ Masini, Fijian DJ Bailey, Fijian, Tongan, DJ Bawlin, and Cook Islander DJ GZ, performances from the artist JSQE, who is half Samoan and Fijian and many others
With tickets now on sale, fans can buy Oceania Sevens tickets here.
The action kicks off at 12.00 p.m AEST local time on day 1 on Friday, November 10, when Samoa take on Nauru in the women’s competition.
Comments on RugbyPass
I guess we may all agree on the fact, that the ABs and Boks are the two in contest for No 1 in rugby history (the triple-A sort of) …. the Wallabies, England and France are the next tier, with Ireland being the new kid in town (AA) …. in my view it makes little sense creating imaginary competitions (unless you have too much time to waste)
41 Go to commentsWhat a joke. Total joke and the pundits commentating, all of whom know a bit about the game, could barely disguise their contempt. Reaching for the card then pulling back when he realised a red card would carry further match suspensions is simply not his decision to make. A clear and obvious influence on the outcome of this match and indeed, the championship path.
2 Go to commentsI like the idea, in NZ the Ranfurly Shield and NPC coexist, both having their own bragging rights. The World Cup would be the pinnacle, but the competition and travels of these trophies would be interesting.
41 Go to commentsDon’t worry Sonny bill Williams leave that awkward situation about the curfew in the pass whoever it was it doesn’t matter its no big deal we back our All Blacks through the storm and the thunder until we see the Sun light again.
42 Go to commentsWho listens to this retard? He was a massive liability as a player but obviously a media sensation
42 Go to commentsI’m not surprised by such ‘virtue signalling’ by Sonny Boy. Butter wouldn’t melt in his mouth. He’s such a pious Islamic muppet, imo.
42 Go to commentsI’ve actually never heard of the guy (then I don’t watch League as it is boring). But if he is good enough.. then good luck to him. If not, well, he can always return to league.
2 Go to commentsIt is pretty clear that by almost any measure that NZ are a more successful rugby nation than South Africa. Quite aside from the distasteful events during the last RWC final. NZ lead SA in all significant measurements.
41 Go to commentsDickson went to his pocket for a card, saw who it was, changed his mind and spoke at length to TMO. One angle clearly shows Care diving over a Saints player to kill the ball. 1st yellow, reason given for not Red was player was falling backwards. He was only falling backwards after contact with Lawes. Graham try should have stood. Mitchell did not have both hands on the ball, ball went forward from a Saints boot dragging over it. 2 intentional knock-on's. One of which had an overlap on the outside. If Quins are happy to win by intentional foul play, then it does not say much for them. Would appear to be a bad day for Karl Dickson, also for the RFU in appointing a Ref who spent 8 years as a player at one of the clubs.
2 Go to commentsLet’s not forget about Ardie Savea just yet.
4 Go to commentsThe URC and the Euro Championscup can’t run at the same time, basically dilutes both competitions.
1 Go to comments“While Sotutu should start at No.8 for the All Blacks against England, but it’s only in that arena that he can prove just how good he really is.” And that my friends is where simply hasnt shone despite multiple opportunities. Even in this performance you can see what did him in in the test arena..he almost always still runs at the opposition almost ramrod upright making him easier to stop than it should be.
4 Go to commentsShould have been 0-0 and a message from SR CEO to both teams - “don’t worry about turning up next year”.
4 Go to commentsGreat work Owen Franks. A great of this team, scoring his first try for the Crusaders since 2010.He was beaming, justifiably. A fine win, he and the rest did the job up front.
1 Go to commentsDanny Care. Lang in die tand.
1 Go to commentsBig empty stadium does nothing for atmosphere but munster are playing well with solid performance
1 Go to commentsYes, Fiji can win the World Cup! With that belief plus their christian faith🙏 and hard work it is achievable. Great article. Ian Duncan Fiji resident 1981-84
2 Go to commentsInteresting comments about Touch. England’s hosting the Touch World Cup this year and the numbers have exploded since their last World Cup in 2019, something like 70% more teams and 40 nations taking part. And England Touch have made a big thing about how many universities are in their BUCS University Touch Championship as well as Sport England membership. Can only see this growing even more domestically as more people become aware of it
10 Go to comments“Cortez Ratima is light years ahead of anyone on current form, while TJ Perenara has also skyrocketed into contention following the unfortunate injury to the talented Cam Roigard.” At last some sanity. Hitherto so many pundits have been wittering on about Finlay Christie to the point one wondered if they were observing a FC in a parallel universe where the FC they saw wasnt just the mediocre Shayne Philpott project of Fosters hapless AB reign in the real world. Ratima, Perenara and Fakatava are the ONLY logical 9s for Razor now Roigard is crocked.
4 Go to commentsThis game was just as painful as the Hurricanes game. It was real fork-in-the-eye stuff.
4 Go to comments