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Final Olympic Spots Up for Grabs Next 2 Weeks

irish rugby tours

Final Olympic Spots Up for Grabs Next 2 Weeks

Canada's men's team looks for more chances to celebrate. David Barpal photo.

It's the final chance in the next two weekends for men's and women's national 7s teams to get into the Olympics.

The final qualifiers will be played in Monaco and Dublin.

On June 18-19 16 men's teams will face off at Stade Louis II. Here are the pools:

Pool A: Samoa, Zimbabwe, Tonga, and Ireland
Pool B: Canada, Germany, Uruguay, and Sri Lanka
Pool C: Russia, Chile, Morocco, and Tunisia
Pool D: Hong Kong, Spain, Mexico, and South Korea

Samoa has to be considered the favorite, and certainly Samoa is the highest-ranked team in terms of World Series points. But Canada, which won the Pan-Am Games last summer, have an excellent shot, as well.

On June 25-26 in Dublin, 16 women's teams will compete at the UCD Bowl in Ireland's capital. The winner will fill out the 12th spot in the Olympic Games women's rugby competition.

Pool A: Russia, Samoa, Zimbabwe, and Madagascar
Pool B: Spain, Mexico, Venezuela, and Tunisia
Pool C: Ireland, China, Portugal and Trinidad, and Tobago
Pool D: Hong Kong, Argentina, Kazakhstan, and Cook Islands

This tournament is much more up in the air, with Russia, Samoa, Spain, and Ireland certainly in with a shout.

In both tournaments, the top two teams from each pool will go on to the quarterfinals, and then the semis and the final. In both tournaments, only the tournament winner will make the Olympics.

Already qualified for the 2016 Olympic Games in rugby:

Women:
New Zealand
Great Britain
Canada
Australia
USA
Brazil
Colombia
France
Kenya
Fiji
Japan

 

Men:
Fiji
South Africa
New Zealand
Great Britain
Australia
USA
Argentina
France
Kenya
Japan
Brazil

Here's how the teams are selected: One seed for the host nation (Brazil); four seeds for the top four finishers in the 2014-15 Sevens World Series; one seed for each of the six inhabited continent (as decided by qualifier tournaments); and one seed from the final qualifier this month.