What’s On Your Rugby Wish List for 2023 – Here Are Our Choices: All the Best for 2023
What’s on your wish list for Canadian rugby this year? This is ours.
Monthly Archives: December 2022
2022 in Review
What to Make of 2022 – Rugby Highlights and Reflections
2022, what to make of it from a BC and Canadian rugby perspective? Obviously the top story is the women’s World Cup, Canada finished 4th, maybe a little disappointing for the world #3 team but they represented well, the tournament gained a lot of media coverage and progressed women’s rugby worldwide. Sophie de Goede probably put herself at the top of the list for most media-recognizable rugby player in Canada now, male or female.
Super Rugby Americas 2023
Super Rugby Americas to Kick Off on February 18th: Includes a North American Team For First Time
Super Rugby Americas, the redesigned SLAR competition, is set to kick off on February 18th with a North American team in the competition for the first time. The American Raptors out of Glendale, Colorado will compete along with teams from Argentina (2), Uruguay, Chile, Brazil and Paraguay.
Referee Updates – December 2022
World Rugby Announces Law Application Guidelines to be Implemented January 2023
World Rugby has announced what they call “law application guidelines” for January 2023. These aren’t new laws but guidelines for officials to implement existing laws.
Players in the News
Jason Marshall Hits the World Stage Again: This Time in the World Rowing Indoor Championships
Jason Marshall is hitting the news but in a different sport, the World Rowing Indoor Championships. He’s one of 10 athletes to compete at the Versa Challenge in February. The article below from World Rowing gives the details but we went through our database as well to scan through his rugby history.
Six Nations 2023
Guinness Six Nations 2023 Schedule and Match Official Assignments
World Rugby announced the match official assignments for the men’s Six Nations 2023. The schedule and assignments are listed below.
Rugby Fitness
Thoughts on Rugby Fitness, Bronco Tests and the World School 7s
[ed. comments below]
I got on this thread about rugby fitness after watching the Japan SDS team win the World School 7s tournament in NZ. The Japan team defeated the highly favoured Australia and NZ girls teams to win the tournament. I watched a number of games on both the boys and girls side and one thing that jumped out at me was the gap in fitness among teams. Of course fitness alone won’t win 7s matches, but without it, winning is difficult. I contacted a number of coaches who watched the tournament to get their thoughts around the Japan win. One noted, “good skills and the fitness that allows them to use them, a desire to work for each other, plus a couple of strong orchestrators”. Another noted, “if you want to simplify why Japanese teams do this, it all comes down to 2 things, discipline and respect”.
World School 7s 2022
BC U18 Teams Wrap Up Tournament: Girls 2-3 Finish in 11th/12th, Boys 0-5 Finish in 15th/16th
[ed. update Japan SDS (Sevens Development Squad) won the girls title defeating the NZ and Australian U18 teams, a big upset. On the boys side it was the expected result, NZ U18 team winning.]
Premier Rugby Sevens 2023
Premier Sevens to Expand in 2023: Northern California One of Four New Teams Added
The PR7s have been going for two years now with four teams, the Loggerheads, Experts, Headliners and Loonies. The Loonies were unofficially partly a Canadian side but now have been given a geographic area of north central USA and renamed the Northern Loonies. The Loggerheads are presented as Southern California and renamed SoCal Loggerheads, the Experts show as central USA and renamed Rocky Mountain Experts and the Headliners as southeast USA and renamed Southern Headliners. The new teams are New York Locals, Texas Team and two unnamed teams from Western Pennsylvania and Northern California.
Editorials – December 2022
Gary Gold Steps Down as USA Coach; Eddie Jones Sacked by England… Meanwhile in Canada
There have been a spate of coaching changes made in the rugby world recently. Last week Eddie Jones was sacked by England and Gary Gold “stepped down” from the USA job, the week started with Wales parting company with Wayne Pivac. They were all related to on field performance of the teams involved, England and Wales were not happy with their team performances leading into a World Cup year. The USA situation was more relatable to Canada, the coach didn’t make the Rugby World Cup, therefore he had to go, there were performance expectations.