Jamaica is going to the World Cup! Yes, the nation can definitely say that in 2022 after the men’s Rugby Sevens team qualified for their second consecutive World Cup tournament.
The feat was accomplished at the Ran Sevens qualifiers that was held in the Bahamas over the past weekend. The Jamaicans soared to two wins on the first day of the competition, defeating Curacao and Guyana 34-7 and 34-0 respectively to advance to the semifinals which were held the following day. The Crocs then went on to defeat the Bermuda national team 24-5, sealing their fate and securing World Cup berth number two. Canada, the other male team that advanced to the final, also secured their spot to the Sevens World Cup tournament that will be held later on this year in South Africa.
The significance of this achievement is massive. No other national senior men’s team have qualified for a World Cup tournament in their respective sport more than once. As we know, Jamaica has only ever qualified for the FIFA men’s World Cup once, in 1998. We have also made it to the Lacrosse World Cup, a competition which we participated in Netanya, Israel in June 2018. Jamaica’s senior men’s Rugby League team are also on the list of male sports teams that have played in a World Cup from the island. They participated in the 2021 Rugby League World Cup for the first time after historically defeating the United States team to secure the title of champions of the Americas.
The Rugby Sevens team on the other hand have been pretty impressive in recent months. They recently won the 2021 RAN Sevens and qualified for the World Rugby Sevens Challenger Series.
Having sealed their qualification for the World Cup, the team would have hoped to leave the Bahamas with another accolade by winning the tournament and defeating Canada in the final. However, the Canadians ran out victorious, defeating the Jamaicans 29-12. However, despite that result, the Crocs can find solitude in the fact that no other team in the region has made it to five RAN Sevens finals in a row.
The Rugby Sevens World Cup tournament is slated to be held from September 9th to 11th in Cape Town, South Africa. It will be the first ever Rugby World Cup to be held on the African continent.