Canada's rugby 7s teams compete for World Cup berths at Bahamian qualifier

Canada's rugby sevens teams' missions this weekend couldn't be more clear.

Both Canadian men's and women's squads will compete at the Rugby Americas North (RAN) Sevens Qualifiers in Nassau, Bahamas with hopes of clinching a 2022 Rugby World Cup Sevens berth.

The men's side will look to build on the positives from the HSBC World Men's Rugby Seven Series in Vancouver last weekend, hopefully turning the three wins in six matches against some of the world's best opposition into some bit of region dominance.

To secure a spot in the World Cup, scheduled for September in Cape Town, South Africa, the Canadians need to make it to the final in the 15-team men's tournament in Nassau. The Canadian women's team needs to finish first in their six-team tournament in order to secure its spot in Cape Town.

"We know the task at hand is to qualify for the Sevens World Cup later this year," Canada's head coach Henry Paul said. "We'll approach Nassau with respect to the opposition whilst trying to replicate several pulsating performances the team produced in front of our passionate home crowd in BC Place last weekend."

In Vancouver, the sixth stop of the men's Seven Series season, Canada took a 26-21 win over Spain on Saturday to bounce back from losses to top-nations Australia (26-10), and South Africa (19-14) in the group stage.

Canada then defeated Japan (29-5) and Scotland (26-22) before falling to Ireland (17-7) in placement games for a 10th-place finish on Sunday.

It was a much improved performance than the previous weekend in Singapore, when the Canadian team lost all five games to finish tied for 15th – dead last – with Scotland.

The tournament in Nassau marks the first of two important weekends for the Canadian women. Beginning on