University Qualifier UBC Defeat TWU, Exhibition Match Valley Venom Crushed by Pacific Pride, Oakville Crusaders Junior Program on Island for Matches v Ravens and CW Taste Victory
UBC confirmed their #1 ranking as they go 4-0 in the BC University qualifying series, TWU need a massive win next weekend against UVic to qualify for the nationals. Pacific Pride dominate in the Valley with a lopsided win. The Oakville Crusaders Junior program took a double from the Ravens on Friday and Ravens edged CW on Saturday.
There are no Premier games this Thanksgiving Weekend but there are two Premier level matches taking place this weekend plus the Oakville Crusaders Junior Program are on the Island for matches with the Ravens and CW.
Trinity Western University 12 v UBC 45 @ 14:30
Referee: Kristine Lovatt AR1: Miriam Sobrino AR2: Michael Blais
Venue: Crush Crescent
UBC finish their national university championship qualification series with a perfect 4-0 record, TWU drop to 0-3 and face the 1-2 Vikes next weekend. TWU still have a chance if they defeat UVic next weekend, then both teams would be 1-3 and it would come down to aggregate between the teams. The Vikes won the first match by +38 so it’s a very slim chance the Vikes won’t be advancing as BC #2.
PREGAME
This is the final University Qualifier match for UBC, they sit at 3-0 and will go through at BC #1 seed. TWU are 0-2 and are in a battle with UVic (1-2) for the BC #2 spot. That UVic v TWU match is next weekend.
UBC are experimenting with their roster as they have the #1 seed sown up. Only tighthead Graeme Francolini and flanker Callum Arnesen retain their spots from last week. Cody Nhanala is not in the roster this week. It’s a new halfback pairing with Caleb Seumanutafa and Liam James and two new players are brought into the starting backline Max McGavern and Ronan Graham on the wing. The bench is strong just in case the game gets out of hand with 6 starters from last week waiting to make an impact. The big news is the return of Takoda McMullin from a long term injury, just in time for the University Championships in November.
We don’t have the TWU roster at the time of writing, we’ve posted their Sept 20th roster in the meantime and will add the current roster when it’s available. Update the TWU roster is now posted.
UBC (Oct 4/current)
1 Jacob Blackwood / James Mahaffy
2 Ethan McCarthy / Emmett Allan
3 Graeme Francolini
4 Relmu Wilson-Valdes / Josh du Toit
5 Joe McNulty / Charlie Clark
6 Liam Kinghorn / Max Birtley
7 Callum Arnesen
8 Cody Nhanala / Liam Kinghorn
9 Stephen Webb / Caleb Seumanutafa
10 James Biss / Liam James
11 Demitri Patterson / Max McGavern
12 Talon McMullin / Liam Turnbull
13 Liam Turnbull / Alastair Marshall
14 Alastair Marshall / Ronan Graham
15 Ben Beauchamp
16 Emmett Allan / Ethan McCarthy
17 James Mahaffy / Ethan Samuels
18 Charlie Clark / Jacob Blackwood
19 Sandon Gupta / Joe McNulty
20 Aiden Sutherland / Relmu Wilson-Valdes
21 Caleb Seumanutafa / James Biss
22 Liam James / Talon McMullin
23 Max McGavern / Takoda McMullin
TWU (Sept 20/current)
1 Ben Graci
2 Joe Goroza
3 Tim Zimmer / Ethan Jurgeneit
4 Dallin Westerlund / Josh Halladay
5 Josh Halladay / David Wegert
6 Caleb Whitton / John Paterson
7 Caleb van Til / Caleb Graham
8 Caleb Graham / Benard Bjorndal
9 Colton Boychuk / Brady Howlett
10 Bernabe Sosa Rey / Wes Willemse
11 Liam Olafsen / Jan Lourens
12 Fynn Murphy
13 Genaro Gendolfo
14 Beckham Dickie / Liam Olafsen
15 Wesley Willemse / Matt Willemse
16 Jose Galicia Guasch
17 Domink Krajsek
18 Ethan Jurgeneit / Tim Zimmer
19 Tristan Walde / Dallin Westerlund
20 John Paterson / Caleb Whitton
21 Brady Howlett / Colton Boychuk
22 Kael Simpson
23 Ken Paul / Connor Gibbons
FVRU 0 v Pacific Pride 76 @ 15:00
Referee: David Smortchevsky AR1: Riley Robinson AR2: Peter MacDonald
Venue: Abbotsford Exhibition Park
A learning experience for the Valley side mostly comprised of young Langley players. The Pride’s next Premier game is November 1st at Westshore.
PREGAME
This is another in the series of exhibition matches at the regional level with the Valley Venom getting back on track with a match against the Pride. Hopefully the McKechnie Cup will be back in action in 2026 as regional programs start to schedule exhibition matches.
The Pride are mixing up their roster from last weekend’s exhibition against Seattle. The front row looks a little stronger with Sam Miller coming back in and Theo Espagnol starting at tighthead. The halfback pairing is new with Mitch Buie and Matt Bennett getting the start, Chris Rose and Jamin Hodgkins are on the bench to make an impact in the second half.
The FVRU roster isn’t available at the time of writing and we have no previous roster for comparison, it will be interesting to see the makeup of the team, the split between Premier and Div 1 players. We’ll post when it’s available. The Gobbler 7s tournament is also taking place and this is the feature match of the tournament.
The FVRU roster is now posted, 12 players are from Langley, 5 from Abbotsford, 3 from United and 3 from TWU. Langley have announced they plan on moving up to Premier next season so this will be a good test for the young players on what level to expect.
Pacific Pride (Oct 4/current)
1 Joe Garoza / Sam Miller
2 Noah Kyneston
3 Simroy John / Theo Espagnol
4 Mason MacDonald / Jaiden John
5 Nate Cameron / Mason MacDonald
6 Evan Logan / Asfi Saeed
7 Greg Putterhill / Taine Clague
8 Taine Clague / Jack Part
9 Chris Rose / Mitchell Buie
10 Jamin Hodgkins / Matt Bennett
11 Ian Jones / Hudson Poppit
12 Alan Berros / Hudson Young
13 Liam Poulton / Alan Berros
14 Jute Norlin / Ian Jones
15 Thomas Cuzange / Glenn Roy
16 Porter Gook
17 Tim Zimmer / Milo McDonald
18 Theo Espagnol / Simroy John
19 Jaiden John / Nate Cameron
20 Asfi Saeed / Evan Logan
21 Jack Part / Chris Rose
22 Mitchell Buie / Jamin Hodgkins
23 Matt Bennett / Jean-Louis Descoutte
24 Sam Blundell / Thomas Cuzange
25 Hudson Young / Liam Poulton
Fraser Valley
1- Kai Verbicky – LRC
2- Davis Heppell – TWU
3- Preston Lahmer – LRC
4- Manraj Randhawa – ARFC
5- Ethan Ohlmann – LRC
6- Jaxon Birza – ARFC
7- Xavier Lee – United
8- Tyler Tsoukalas – LRC (captain)
9- Guian Pascual – United
10- Tristan Fletcher – LRC
11- Spencer Todter – LRC
12- Brenden McElhinney – LRC
13- Elijah Hastings – LRC
14- Josh Seo – ARFC
15- Jacob Williams – LRC
16- Arthur baker – TWU
17- Logan LaPlante – ARFC
18- Noah Bolton – TWU
19- Garrett Patey – United
20- James Walker – LRC
21- James sadler – ARFC
22- Henry brown – LRC
23- Stephen Lenahan – LRC
Junior Rugby
Congrats to Oakville Crusaders for taking the Thanksgiving Weekend to tour out west. They’ll be playing a series of matches against hosts CW and the Ravens at the U16 and U18 levels.
CW hosting UBCOB Ravens and Oakville Crusaders in a friendly three-way for Junior Boys. All matches at Windsor Park.
Oakville won Ontario this summer for U18B
Friday Ravens vs Crusaders
U16 3:30 Crusaders 19 – Ravens 7
U18 4:30 Crusaders 39 – Ravens 10
Saturday CW vs Ravens
U18 2:00pm Ravens 24 – CW 22
Sunday CW vs Crusaders
U16 12:30pm Crusaders 24 – CW 7
U18 2:00pm CW 29 – Crusaders 5