Canadian women's rugby team prepares for first home game in 7 years in Langford

Canada’s Senior Women’s 15s rugby team is pictured. (Rugby Canada/Facebook)

One of Canada's national rugby teams is gearing up for a long-awaited home game in Langford, B.C.

Canada's Women's 15s team will play their first home game in seven years on Sunday, when they face off against Italy at Starlight Stadium.

Head coach Kevin Rouet says the team recently gathered several days ago, with an eye towards building team cohesion.

"We are a huge country with a lot of great athletes but we don't always get to see each other," he said.

"So the first thing is to build connections and make sure everybody is on the same page, because we don't get to see each other a lot," he said. "Also we need to build confidence."

The upcoming game against Italy is a test match, with not everyone on the women's team getting to participate.

There's 44 players on the team, and about half of them will play in the game, with the coach selecting players based on their performance during this training period.

Sunday's test match is part of the national team's journey to the World Cup in October.

After the match against Italy, the Canada Women's 15s team will be heading to Halifax, N.S., to face off against Wales on Aug. 27.

"So it's going to be camps after camps, and then we head to Fiji also to play Fiji," said Rouet.

Three women from B.C. are part of the Women's 15s rugby team, including island player Sophie de Goede from Victoria.