USA's men and women book Rio 2016 places

USA's men and women have qualified for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games after claiming the NACRA North America Rugby Sevens titles in Cary, North Carolina on Sunday.

USA are the reigning Olympic champions, having won gold the last time rugby featured in the Olympic Games in the form of 15s in Paris 1928. A new generation of men and women will be looking for history to repeat itself in Rio next August.

The USA men's side, fresh from their breakthrough HSBC Sevens World Series title in London, were 21-5 winners over Canada in the NACRA championship final, with the Canadians now proceeding to the global repechage next year which offers one final qualifying place in the both the men's and women's draws.

With Canada's women having already secured their Rio 2016 place through the World Rugby Women's Sevens Series, the USA women were unbeaten en route to the final, where they defeated Mexico 88-0 to book their ticket for Rio 2016.

In performing heroics in North Carolina, USA's men and women join Argentina's men and Colombia's women after they booked their places the previous weekend at South America's qualifying tournament in Santa Fe.

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World Rugby Chairman Bernard Lapasset said: "USA is a nation that loves the Olympics and is truly falling in love with rugby.

"The impressive elevation in performance of the US men's and women's rugby sevens teams on the world stage is capturing hearts and minds across the nation and having both teams competing on sport's biggest stage will take our exciting game to new audiences and inspire new participants. It could be a game-changer!"

Meanwhile, France's men and Russia's women are in pole-position for qualification having won their respective legs of the European pre-qualifying series over the weekend.

France backed up their win at the Moscow Sevens with a 20-7 victory over Spain at the Lyon Sevens, heading for the third and decisive event in Exeter, England.

In Kazan, Russia's women beat France 19-15 in the final of the first of two rounds in the women's series having earlier beaten Spain 36-7 in the semi-finals and Wales 33-0 in the quarter-finals. Brive plays host to the second and final leg next weekend.

For more information, please contact:

DOMINIC RUMBLES

World Rugby Head of Communications

T: +353-1-240-9206 / +353-86-852-0826

E: Dominic.rumbles@worldrugby.org

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