12 June 2013 University, Canterbury Rugby Football Union and the Crusaders join ‘Sevens’ forces

A memorandum of understanding has been signed between the Canterbury Rugby Football Union, the Crusaders and Lincoln University, giving the opportunity for international student athletes to undertake intensive rugby development in the Sevens code in conjunction with an academic English Language course.

“The signing of the memorandum of understanding between the two organisations gives international student athletes a unique opportunity to play rugby Sevens and learn English,” says Lincoln University Vice-Chancellor, Dr Andrew West.

“Lincoln University is passionate about high-level sport and this is shown through our sports scholarship programme, which is currently in its 15th year, and through our ongoing research in sports science.  We also host two major sporting bodies on campus: the New Zealand Cricket High Performance Centre and the Asia Pacific Football Academy.   Increasing our sports offering through partnering with Canterbury Rugby and the Crusaders to offer Sevens rugby makes sense.

“New Zealand has won the IRB Sevens World Series for the last two years, and, at the moment, is on track to win it for a third year in a row.  Our new partnership makes for an attractive proposition for international student athletes to learn Sevens rugby from a rugby winning country, while participating in an intensive English language curriculum.”

During the 12-week programme, student athletes will study English at Lincoln University for three hours a day, five days per week, and will go on field trips and tours relevant to course content.

Working with the Canterbury Rugby’s and Crusader’s International High Performance Unit, student athletes will take part in a structured and intense Sevens rugby code performance programme.

“We are delighted to be entering this partnership with Lincoln University.  Participation in Sevens rugby is increasing around the world, and to ensure success, particularly in the international scene, English language is very important,” says Canterbury Rugby Football Union and Crusaders Chief Executive Hamish Riach.

“Each student athlete will receive an individual performance plan including goal setting, monitoring and progress reports.  Then throughout the programme they will receive specialist coaching on attack, defence, contact, set piece and core Sevens skills, as well as strength and conditioning training, fitness programming and testing and weekly games.”

The first intake of student athletes is scheduled for 24 February to 23 May 2014.  For more information about the programme visit www.lincoln.ac.nz/sevens.