Just for kicks, Women’s Sevens rugby players return to Las Vegas

They’re back! Women’s rugby returns to Las Vegas this weekend with the World Rugby Women’s Sevens Series, the third of six stops worldwide. The event joins the men’s international tournament at the same location.

Twelve women’s rugby teams will compete Friday through Sunday at the Sam Boyd Stadium.

Rugby Sevens, so called because each team consists of seven players, instead of the 15 in regular rugby, features shorter matches that last seven minutes per half.

The Las Vegas games offer an opportunity to see 2016 Olympic winning teams from Australia (gold), New Zealand (silver) and Canada (bronze) play. Rugby Sevens became an Olympic sport for men and women for the first time at the Summer Games in Brazil last year.

Other women’s teams set to compete include Brazil, England, Fiji, France, Ireland, Japan, Russia, Spain and the U.S.

Women’s teams will add “an entirely new level of elite competition, pageantry and interest” in the sport, Dan Payne, chief executive of USA Rugby, said in a statement. The women’s competition returns to Las Vegas after having moved to Atlanta in 2014.

Tickets start at $85 for a single day, $171 for two days and $216 for all three days.

In the men’s USA Sevens International Rugby Tournament, two Olympic medal-winning teams — Fiji (gold) and South Africa (bronze) — will be represented in Vegas. Great Britain, which won silver, will field national teams from England, Scotland and Wales.

Info: USA Sevens Rugby

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