At a press conference in Ottawa today, Rugby Canada CEO Graham Brown announced that Ottawa would be the host of the 2012 North America Caribbean Rugby Association (NACRA) Sevens tournament, which will also act as a finals qualifier for the 2013 Rugby Sevens World Cup.

Along side Graham Brown, National Men’s Program Manager Gareth Rees and Canadian rugby legend and member of the Ottawa Sports Hall of Fame Al Charron were on hand to make the announcement as well as address the members of the media at the Fairmount Chateau Laurier.

“We saw this as such a great opportunity to bring an international tournament of this caliber to the City of Ottawa,” said Brown. “Rugby in Ottawa is strong enough to support an event like this, and to have the tournament in our nation’s capital is tremendous.”

The event, taking place at the Twin Elm Rugby Park on August 25th and 26th, pits teams from North America and the Caribbean, on the Men’s side teams from Canada, Bermuda, Bahamas, Jamaica, Cayman Islands, Mexico, Trinidad & Tobago, Barbados and St Vincent and The Grenadines and on the Women’s side teams from Canada, Guyana, Jamaica, Cayman Islands, Mexico, Barbados, St Vincent and The Grenadines and Trinidad & Tobago, in the annual two day tournament. With the Rugby Sevens World Cup happening next year in Moscow, Russia, this event will also act as a qualifier for that event with the top two Men’s teams and the top Women’s team moving on.

“Our Men’s and Women’s Sevens teams have had such great success over the past few months, with the Women winning five tournaments in a row and the Men recently qualifying for core status in Hong Kong,” said Rees. “With all of these accomplishments taking place all over the world, it is nice to be able to compete for Sevens success in front of our home fans.”

With the 2011 NACRA Sevens tournament having been hosted in Barbados, Rugby Canada is excited to have the opportunity to host the event on home soil and is looking for a strong turn out from rugby fans from all over Eastern Ontario and Quebec.

Along with the announcement of the NACRA Sevens tournament coming to Ottawa, the press conference was also an opportunity to announce that ticket are now available for the National Senior Men’s test match vs. USA on June 9th in nearby Kingston, Ontario. The game, as part of a Summer Test Match series also taking place in Toronto and Burnaby, will happen at Richardson Stadium on the Queens University campus. Tickets are available for purchase through kingstonrugby.ca.

Rugby Canada would like to thank all those who came out to the Fairmont Chateau Laurier and attended the press conference for this announcement.