FIJI SEVENS TO HOLD TRAINING CAMP WITH THE WILDCATS
Fiji come to Tucson following a gold medal winning run in the Summer Olympics in Brazil.
Jan 29- Arizona will welcome in some guests this Spring, announcing today that the Fijian Sevens national team will hold training camp at the University of Arizona next month.
The Flying Fijiians will travel to Tucson and train in preparation for the American leg of the HSBC Sevens World Series in Las Vegas. Arizona was selected due to a multitude of factors that will provide Fiji the ideal environment under new Head Coach Gareth Baber. Fiji, arguably the world's most famous Sevens squad, made history this Summer, winning the gold medal in Rugby's return to the Olympics. Fiji has won two Sevens World Cups and the Hong Kong Sevens a record 16 times in their history. More recently, Fiji has won two of the last three Sevens World Series and continued their strong from in the 2018 season, sitting at fifth in the overall standings after last weekend's Sydney Sevens.
Head Coach Sean Duffy was thrilled to finally share the secret project with fans, thanking both his university colleagues and the City of Tucson for their support on this venture. "This will be an incredible experience, and both Gareth and Mark have communicated how excited they are to use our facilities but also get a run in against our Sevens boys, in addition to helping grow the game in the city with a planned youth and high school clinic. Credit to our guys for keeping it a secret. We had Fiji's Manager break the news to the boys at Silicon Valley Sevens in November when we were both there and it was a great surprise for them. We are thrilled to partner with Fiji Sevens, Fiji Rugby Union, and the Ministry of Sport on what will be a fantastic week that we hope to repeat in future years." Fiji and Arizona will join forces on a Youth & HS Clinic the weekend of February 24th with details forthcoming shortly on location, date, and logistics.
The Wildcats will be focused on Arizona State February 24th but then shift their focus to welcoming their guests before flying to Argentina for their Spring Break Tour in what will be an exciting month for the program. They currently sit at #12 in the nation, their highest ranking in five years heading in to this weekend's matchup with UCLA at the StubHub Center, home of the Los Angeles Chargers, as a curtain raiser for USA-Argentina. The Cats will debut their new Nike playing kit in Los Angeles this weekend before home matches against Utah, Cal, and their in-state rivals the next three weeks.