Year in Review – A Look Back at July/August 2021 Headlines: LA win MLR Title, 3 Canadians Make All-Star Team, Canada Announce 30 Player Squad for Men’s XVs RWC Qualifiers, Olympic 7s Wraps Up and Controversy Continues, Coastal Cup Competition Introduced
The MLR wrapped up with LA winning the title. Three Canadians were selected on the MLR All-Star team for the season, Lucas Rumball and Ben LeSage from Toronto and DTH from LA.
We did an interview with Curry Hitchborn where he talks about the new competition to come in the fall, at the time it didn’t have a name but later was called the Coastal Cup.
Canada announced their 30 player squad to face USA in the RWC qualifier, they also announced St. John’s would host the first match. St. John’s has been a great hosting location for Canada as Canada defeated USA that day, although they lost the return match south of the border, and lost the series.
The women’s XVs fall tour schedule was announced, 2 games vs USA, then England and Wales. Canada would win 3 of the 4.
The Olympic 7s event had some fallout with the women finishing out of the quarter-finals after winning Bronze in the previous Olympics. The men made the quarter-finals which was a good result considering their world ranking. Jamie Cudmore was fired for his tweets mocking the women’s poor showing at the Olympics after they had ousted their coach, John Tait. There was a lot of heated discussion around the women’s 7s program and their actions, Jen Kish came out in support of John Tait and Lisa Cooper wrote an opinion piece which was our most read story of the year, getting almost 7,000 page views.
The Thunder Indigenous Rugby program toured to Prince Rupert, Shawnigan, Abbotsford and Capilano to put on youth camps.
Point Grey Thunder, which was basically made up of UBC players, won the BC Rugby League title. The team include 6 Canada U20 players.
JULY/AUGUST STORIES (39)
3750 – Rugby League Updates – August 2021
Aug 29 2021 – Point Grey Thunder Win BC Rugby League Title with 6 Canada U20 Players, 2 Players Returned from National Men’s XVs Camp, an MLR Draft Pick and Several Other UBC Players – Full Match Video
3749 – Thunder Rugby Updates – August 2021
Aug 27 2021 – Thunder Rugby Holds Three Camps to Identify Indigenous Athletes for NZ 2022 Tour
3748 – Canada v USA RWCQ – 2021
Aug 25 2021 – Ardron and Olmstead Looking Doubtful as Canada Prepare for Match in St. John’s
3747 – Canada U20 – August 2021
Aug 28 2021 – Photos (37) and Lineups for Red v Black Inter-Squad Match
3746 – Referee Updates – August 2021
Aug 23 2021 – Level 1 Match Officials Training Course Starts Wednesday: Registration Open
3745 – BC Rugby – Fall Season 2021
Aug 23 2021 – BC Rugby Outlines Fall Season and Key Dates
3744 – Canada v USA RWCQ – 2021
Aug 30 2021 – Canada Announce 30 Player Squad for Two Test Series Against USA
3743 – Pacific Pride Updates – August 2021
Aug 21 2021 – Pride Programs Requires Local Short-Term Housing Support
3742 – MLR Draft – 2021
Aug 19 2021 – Three BC University Players Picked in Top Two Rounds: Logan Martin-Feek, James O’Neill, Bryce Worden
3741 – National Senior Women’s XVs – August Update
Aug 17 2021 – Rugby Canada Announce Women’s XVs Schedule for November: Four Matches in Colorado (x2), London, Cardiff
3740 – Rugby 7s Tournaments – August 2021
Aug 13 2021 – USA National 7s in Seattle This Weekend; RugbyTown 7s in Glendale Next Weekend
3739 – Women’s XVs Update – August 2021
Aug 20 2021 – Lineups Announced for Women’s XVs Red v Black Match: Live Streamed Today at 3pm PT
3738 – High Performance Rugby – August 2021
Aug 11 2021 – Introducing BC’s New “High-Performance” Competition and An Interview with Curry Hitchborn
3737 – Vancouver 7s – 2021
Aug 10 2021 – Teams Announced for Vancouver and Edmonton 7s Events: Links to Ticket Sales
3736 – MLR All Star Teams
Aug 09 2021 – MLR Release All Star Team With 2nd Team and Honourable Mentions
3735 – Coaches Corner – August 2021
Aug 09 2021 – An Interview with UVic Vikes Head Coach, Scott Manning – Camp Reminder
3734 – Opinion Piece – August 2021
Aug 07 2021 – Is All Truly Equal in the Fight for Equality in Canadian Rugby? Draw Your Conclusions Carefully
3733 – HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series 2021
Aug 04 2021 – World Rugby 7s Series Schedule Updates: Vancouver and Edmonton Stops to Include Women’s Fast-Four Tournaments; Hong Kong and Paris Cancelled for 2021; Total 5 Men’s & 2 Women’s Rounds in 2021
3732 – MLR Final 2021
Aug 02 2021 – LA Giltinis Win MLR Title: Four Canada Capped Players in Match -DTH Scores 2nd Half Try
3731 – Rugby Canada Updates – August 2021
Aug 01 2021 – Jen Kish Makes Statement About Bullying and Intimidation in Women’s 7s Program
3730 – Rugby Canada Updates – July 2021
Jul 30 2021 – Another One Bites the Dust: Jamie Cudmore Fired Over Tweets
3729 – Olympic Rugby 7s 2021 – Women
Jul 31 2021 – Canadian Women Shocked in 31-0 Loss to France – Fail to Make Quarter-Finals: Match Video
3728 – BCRN Journalism Intern
Jul 28 2021 – Meet Our 2021 Summer Intern: Amanda Whipple
3727 – Olympic Rugby 7s 2021 – Men
Jul 28 2021 – Canada Fall to NZ in Quarter-Finals: Face USA in 5th Place Playoff
3726 – MLR Semi-Finals 2021
Jul 23 2021 – MLR Semis: NY @ Atlanta and Utah @ LA
3725 – Thunder Indigenous Rugby – July 2021
Jul 21 2021 – Thunder Rugby BC Summer Tour: Camps in Prince Rupert, Shawnigan, Capilano, Abbotsford, Kamloops and Prince George – Sign Up Online
3724 – Olympic 7s Updates – July 2021
Jul 19 2021 – Nathan Hirayama Selected as Olympic Flag Bearer
3723 – Coaching News – July 2021
Jul 18 2021 – Interview With Brian Moylett on His New Coaching Venture: Off-Field Rugby Coach
3722 – MLR 2021 – Week 17
Jul 20 2021 – Final Week of MLR Rugby Regular Season: Houston @ Seattle, NOLA @ NY, Austin @ DC, LA @ Utah, Atlanta @ New England
3721 – Rugby in History
Jul 14 2021 – It’s a Try! The History of Rugby in Canada – 1100 Page Book That Covers Rugby in Canada From its Beginning
3720 – World Rugby 7s Series – 2021
Jul 10 2021 – Canada to Open 2021 7s Series with Stops in Vancouver and Edmonton in September
3719 – MLR 2021 – Week 17
Jul 12 2021 – Week 17 Results: Wins for New York, DC, LA, Atlanta, New England and Seattle
3717 – Women’s National XVs – July 2021
Jul 15 2021 – Women’s XVs Hold Four Day West Camp at Shawnigan and Langford
3716 – Canada v England July 2021
Jul 10 2021 – Canada and England Name Squads for Saturday’s Match at Twickenham
3715 – Rugby 7s at 2021 Olympics
Jul 07 2021 – Schedule Announced for Men’s and Women’s Olympic 7s
3714 – July Tests 2021
Jul 06 2021 – A Look at Weekend Results from the Americas 2023 RWC Potential Qualifiers: How Does Canada Compare?
3713 – MLR 2021 – Week 16
Jul 05 2021 – Week 16 Matchups: San Diego @ Seattle; New England v New York; Toronto @ DC; LA @ New Orleans
3712 – Canada v Wales July 2021
Jul 04 2021 – Canada Fall to Wales 68-12 (40-5 HT) – Match Notes
3711 – RWC 2023 Qualification Series
Jul 01 2021 – Canada Announce St John’s for First Round of RWC 2023 Qualifying vs USA – Langford for October Series with South American Team