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Women's sevens university tournament draw announced

3rd May, 2017
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3rd May, 2017
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Australia’s first women’s rugby sevens university series will get underway in August, following the announcement of the draw this Thursday morning.

The competition will begin on August 25 and will run for four rounds before finishing up on September 30.

The full Australian women’s squad, many of whom were involved in the gold medal success at the 2016 Rio Olympics will be involved in the tournament, being split evenly across the eight university teams.

Every team in the tournament will be allocated at least two members of the Australian squad, while the line-ups will comprise a split of students and non-students. It has also been announced that at least 50 per cent of the squads need to be made up of students, although there is no requirement for how many must be on the field at the same time.

Every match for each round will be played at the same venue, with four different universities playing host over the course of the season.

The series will kick-off in Tasmania, before Macquarie University in north-west Sydney hosts the second event, which will coincide with a National Rugby Championship derby between the Macquarie University Sydney Rays and the Western Sydney Rams.

The final two events of the series will be held in Queensland, the first at the University of Queensland and the final at Bond University on the Gold Coast during the back end of September.

Australian women’s sevens head coach Tim Walsh will be watching the tournament as he ramps up his search to find the next generation of Olympians. With five states and territories represented in the competition, he says the national scope of the series should prompt female athletes from a range of sports to consider whether they could be Australia’s next rugby sevens star.

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“Our Rio team was made up of plenty of amazing women who used to play other sports,” Walsh said.

“If you can run fast, catch and have plenty of determination, you have the foundation to be a rugby sevens champion. We hope to discover plenty of new talent this year, whether they come from a rugby background or not.

“Flying around the country to compete with and against gold medallists is an opportunity that not many athletes ever get, so I’m looking forward to see which teams and which players step up to challenge and make the most of their chance on the national stage.”

Full schedule for Women’s 7’s University tournament

Round Date Venue
1 25-26 August University of Tasmania Stadium, Launceston
2 9-10 September Macquarie University fields, Sydney
3 16-17 September University of Queensland fields, Brisbane
4 29-30 September Bond University fields, Gold Coast
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