Chicago has been confirmed as the host city for the finals of the 2008 Barclays Churchill Cup, and Toyota Park will be the venue.Entering its sixth year, the Churchill Cup, which has been held across Canada, California, and England in the past, will feature its pool play matches in Ottawa on June 7, Kingston on June 11, and Toronto on June 14, before teams converge on Chicago for the finals day of the tournament on June 21. “Three games in one stadium on one day makes for a great rugby festival event,” said USA Rugby CEO Nigel Melville. “And it’s a huge opportunity for us to build from the success of last year. We showed what was possible if we worked very, very hard to work with the local community, a lot of you whom are here today were involved in that effort. “It wasn’t just about the one game, it was about the whole thing – youth development, spreading the word of the game, referee and coaching courses, and a fan festival -- so we made it a huge event and we look to make it even bigger this year. We had 8,600 people at the Munster event, and we think that we can easily exceed 10,000 in 2008. We still have the data of who came along and we are sure they will want to come again.” The Barclays Churchill Cup is the biggest international rugby tournament in North America and is an alliance tournament between the rugby unions of England, USA and Canada. Six teams will participate in the 2008 Barclays Churchill Cup – USA, Canada, England Saxons, Scotland A, Ireland A, and a final team to be confirmed shortly.
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