Oceania Rugby Sevens Championship is set to serve as the qualifying event for the highly anticipated Paris 2024 Olympics with 25 teams set to go head to head in Brisbane for the Oceania Rugby Sevens Championship 2023 in bid for a spot.
As revealed, the Oceania Rugby Sevens Championship (a three-day tournament at Ballymore Stadium) which kick-starts today Friday means that two teams (one men’s and one women’s) will have booked their ticket to the Olympic Games Paris 2024 at the end of the tourney.
With Fiji (back-to-back men’s gold medalists) and Australia’s and New Zealand’s men and women having already secured their place at the tournament in France, the qualified two teams will ensure Oceania has its biggest representation at an Olympic sevens tournament next year.
Meanwhile, the second and third highest ranked non-qualified teams in each tournament will go on to compete in the Final Olympic Qualification Tournament in 2024.
Exciting clashes includes : Brian Lima’s side against Tuvalu, Solomon Islands, Cook Islands and American Samoa will line up alongside Samoa and Tuvalu in Men’s Pool B, with the team that tops the standings at the end of the pool stage going on to face the nation that wins Men’s Pool C.
Olympic newbie duo in Samoa and Tonga who have never previously appeared at an Olympic sevens tournament face competition from Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu, Kiribati and Nauru in Men’s Pool C.
Tonga head into their opening match against Nauru today at the end of a year in which they won the World Rugby Challenger Series 2023 but came up short in the World Rugby Sevens Series 2024 Play-off.
Winner of the Men’s Oceania Olympic final will go on to contest the overall Championship final against the team that emerges from Men’s Pool A – which features 2023 Series winners New Zealand, Fiji, Australia, Niue and an Oceania squad.
In the Women’s Sevens Championship, eight teams – including Tokyo 2020 bronze medallists Fijiana – are competing for the prized ticket to Paris.
Fijiana will kick off their Women’s Pool B campaign against Cook Islands on Friday and will go on to play Tonga and tournament debutants American Samoa in Brisbane as the top two teams at the end of the pool stage will qualify for the Oceania Olympic Cup semi-finals, against the top two from Women’s Pool C.
See Also – Rugby Africa President Herbert Mensah To Discuss
Papua New Guinea, who competed in the 2023 Challenger Series, have been drawn in Women’s Pool C and will take on Samoa, Solomon Islands and Nauru for a place in the semi-finals.
The winners of the two Olympic Cup semi-finals will meet at 16:24 local time on Sunday to decide which team takes their place at the 2024 Games in Paris.
Regardless of the result, both teams will play one more match at Ballymore Stadium. The victors will take on either Australia or a New Zealand development squad in the overall Championship final.
Following this weekend’s action in Brisbane, the final regional qualifiers will be confirmed at the Asian Qualification Tournament in Osaka between 18-19 November as the identity of the 12th team in each tournament will then be decided at the Final Olympic Qualification Tournament next June as revealed by World Rugby.
Leave a comment