[ed. note that times and locations based on BCRU fixtures page at time of writing.]
Our normal prediction article with rosters and predictions for the men’s Premier will come out tomorrow as usual but we thought we’d take a look at the playoff picture for the men’s Div 1 and women’s Premier today.
*BC Friends of Rugby Group Offering Ten $2,000 Scholarships to Graduating High School Students: Download Application Form*
[ed. application deadline is May 15th. Originally published Jan 10th 2023]
‘BC Friends of Rugby’ are a group of passionate rugby people who are trying to give back and help grow our sport. One of the initiatives is a scholarship program where a total of 10 scholarships valued at $2000 each will be awarded to talented young rugby players that are hoping to combine their journey in sport with their education. Five will be awarded to male athletes, and another five will be awarded to female athletes. This opportunity is available to all graduating high school students. Attached is the application form. Please forward your completed application and references to Tim Murdy (tmurdy@shawnigan.ca).
The team and driving force behind BC Friends of Rugby are John Middleton, Morris DeCotiis, Mark Reid and Eddie Evans. All former BC players with a passion of wanting to put something back into the game we all love. Through the support of the local Rugby community they have been able to provide some funding towards a number of excellent BC based grassroots Rugby programs.
by John Langley
Caps Men were on the road today for two games at James Bay. Two close games but unfortunately two losses.
Seattle remain the only undefeated side in the MLR after Week 6. There were 29 Canadians in the rosters, 19 starting.
from Rugby Canada
Canadas Womens Rugby Team won their first game of 2023 by a convincing score of 66-7 over South Africa on Saturday, marking the first time Canada has played the Springbok Women in 10 years.
[ed. note rosters are published last week/this week to highlight changes.]
Castaway Wanderers 42 v Seattle 7 @ 14:30
Referee: Riley Robinson AR1: Carter Haddow AR2: Mckenzie Eckart
Venue: Windsor Park
CW got the job done at home. The result puts them in 7th place (24 points) with the potential to reach 5th place before the season ends. The standings now would see CW @ Ravens in a quarter-final. The match next week against James Bay will be important in determining the final playoff picture.
The women only have two tournaments left, Hong Kong in a week’s time and Toulouse in May. Canada won’t make the top 4 for automatic Olympic qualification, they’re currently in 8th place, 32 points behind the final qualification spot currently held by Ireland (France automatically qualify as host). The USA are in 3rd spot and are almost certain to earn qualification for the Olympics.
The men have 4 tournaments left, but only 3 for Canada to get out of the relegation zone. Canada are currently in 14th place with 20 points. At the London tournament teams placed 12-14 will battle it out with a fourth team added to remain in the series. The 15th placed team, currently Japan at 10 points, will be automatically relegated. Unless Canada can make the Cup round in a couple of the upcoming tournaments, it’s looking like they’ll be in the four team relegation tournament in London. They have to make up a 14 point gap on Uruguay who currently occupy 11th spot. Also chasing are Spain in 12th and Kenya in 13th.
It’s good to see the Provincial and National bodies co-operating to ID talent for the national teams. It should be standard practice but as no surprise it’s part of the women’s national team pathway but not so much in the men’s pathway.
by Peter MacDonald
The Ravens and their west side club mates, the Lomas and Kats, were all sent packing by the Park Board this week to allow some field maintenance to be done so it was off to Langley on short notice thanks to the generosity of Langley RFC and the hard work of Ravens club president Frank Fekete. First the Rippers played a hard fought game with Langley ending with a crowd pleasing come from behind win for the home side, 40-33. Next up were the two touring premier sides who put on a top class show before the appreciative sun splashed crowd.