The BCRU seem to have their act together this year with a top notch slate of coaches. Leading the senior men’s team is Curry Hitchborn. It’s a no-brainer to have him in charge of the Provincial men’s team as he leads the most successful university program in the country and his UBC team are perennial contenders for the BC Premier title. Phil Mack and Jake Ilnicki are assistant coaches.
The Six Nations kicks off on Saturday. France and Ireland go in as favourites to win the title this year. The BC Lottery even gets in on the action and these are the odds they’re offering.
It’s not looking good for the men’s 7s program right now. They slipped 10 points behind Uruguay in the race for the coveted 11th place that avoids the relegation tournament. They remain 8 points above Japan who occupy 15th place and get immediately relegated after the Toulouse tournament. There are 5 tournaments left to turn things around before London: LA, Vancouver, Hong Kong, Singapore and Toulouse. Canada will need to make the Cup round in one or two of the remaining tournaments.
We got on the track of the Hong Kong 7s when we revisited this Rugby Street demo we had done in 2010. The show was hosted by James Buchanan and Meghan Mutrie and featured the Bowl win by the 2010 Canada 7s team. That got us thinking about the hardware that Canada have won at Hong Kong and who were the coaches over the years. Both topics we researched a bit below.
The recent article by Neil Davidson on Rugby Canada gives further insight into the mindset of new CEO Nathan Bombrys and the direction he’s trying to take Rugby Canada. One of his first actions was to hire three UK technical staff, also his first non-action was keeping Kingsley Jones in charge of the men’s XVs despite failing to reach the World Cup.
from BCRU
BC Rugby is pleased to announce three BC Bears Talent Identification and Development Sessions for U19 male athletes (birth year 2004-2005) taking place in February and March.
The first round of the women’s CanWest series is on this weekend in Edmonton. The series includes UVic, UBC, TWU, Alberta, Brandon, Lethbridge, Calgary, Regina. The schedule/results and link to CanWest TV is here.
A disappointing tournament overall for both the men and women in New Zealand, both teams dropped in the rankings.
There are a few rugby events on this weekend for watching, obviously, the NZ 7s on CBC Sports. That kicks off at 12:10pm PST on Friday with the Canada men taking on South Africa.
Warren Gatland wants his coaching mate, Robert Howley, back in the Wales fold. His comments were captured in the Guardian article linked below. He basically wants Howley forgiven but apparently the WRU blocked the move.