World Rugby (WR), the international federation for the sport of the oval ball, announced this Friday the exclusion of Russia from the Women’s World Series of rugby 7 and the qualification process for the World Cup to be held in Cape Town (South Africa) next September.
In a statement, WR recalled that Russia is “banned from all international competitions since February 28”, due to its invasion of Ukraine on the 24th of that month, for which it has modified the calendar of the last two stages of the Series World Cups in which the Russian women’s team should have participated, in Langford (Canada) and Toulouse (France).
To alleviate the loss of Russia, the international organization has decided to invite Mexico for the Canadian stage (April 30 and May 1), while Scotland will supply it in the French event (from May 20 to 22).
In addition, the Russian men’s and women’s teams will also not be able to participate in the European qualifying tournament for the Rugby 7 World Cup in Cape Town, scheduled for September 9-11, a phase that will be played in a venue to be determined next July.
This measure favors the interests of the Spanish teams, since Russia, both in the men’s and women’s categories, was one of their main rivals to win one of the four continental places and for which the classified nations are no longer contending: France, both in men as in women; and the men’s teams from Scotland and England.
