USA Eagles Assemble for Uruguay 8 of 27 in BC Leagues; One Uni Folds Another Starts; The Return of the National Players
The USA Eagles prepare for their World Cup qualification matches with Uruguay with a camp in Atlanta this weekend. They meet Uruguay in a home and away series on March 22nd and 29th. An astounding 8 of the 27 play in BC leagues. 6 are with the Div 1 Seattle-OPSB team and 2 with BC Premier team James Bay.
Seattle are on the road to Langley this weekend, it will be interesting to see the scoreline of that match to see how Seattle perform without their capped players. Seattle have been on a tear lately outscoring opponents 200-5 over the last two weeks but that has been at home with their top players.
James Bay hosts CW this weekend. The Bays who mauled in 5 tries last weekend with the help of the two Eagles face CW who have quietly been bringing in their spring artillery, 4 of their tight 5 are current Canadian caps. It should be an epic battle.
USA Eagles at Atlanta Camp
Forwards: Derek Asbun (NYAC), Danny Barrett (Eagles 7s), Tom Coolican (NYAC), John Cullen (Seattle-OPSB), T.C. Elliott (Seattle-OPSB), Zach Fenoglion (Glendale), Graham Harriman (James Bay), Oliver Kilifi (Seattle-OPSB), Brodie Orth (Kansas City Blues), Lou Stanfill (Seattle-OPSB), Kyle Sumsion (BYU), Phil Thiel (Life), Matt Trouville (Seattle-OPSB), Nick Wallace (James Bay), Aaron Young (Milwaukee)
Backs: Chris Chapman (NYAC), Joe Cowley (Life), Miles Craigwell (Seattle-OPSB), Shaun Davies (Life), Dean Gericke (HARC), Troy Hall (NYAC), Kelly Kolberg (Dallas), Chad London (Glendale), Tim Maupin (Olympic Club), Mike Petri (NYAC), Adam Siddall (Unattached), Shalom Suniula (Eagles 7s)
One Uni Down and One Up
Apparently according to a tweet by the Surrey Beavers Rugby club there are “No Games For 1sts Or 2nds Saturday, @UBCOHeat Folded.” UBC Okanagan also shown as Kelowna in the BCRU schedule apparently have defaulted the rest of their games this season. They were on the receiving end of a mismatch in Seattle, 113-0, that may have been the proverbial last straw. It’s an unfortunate situation for the Okanagan and BC Rugby.
The news comes at a time when a new program is starting on the North Island. The Vancouver Island University out of Nanaimo are starting their program and have their first game this weekend against a Cowichan 2nd team. We wish them all the best, there’s also word that they’ve entered in the University 7s in Langford in March. So all the best to the VIU Storm.
National Players Return
As most followers of BC Rugby know, the national players tend to congregate at two clubs, Castaway Wanderers and James Bay. These two meet this weekend at MacDonald Park and it could signal the return to XVs of some of the 7s players.
Last weekend the CW roster had a number of returning national team players, the tight 5 reads like a national team starting roster. Jake Ilnicki, Hubert Buydens, Andrew Tiedemann, and John Phelan. Also note the return of Ander Monro to active duty, the former national #10 kicked 8 points last weekend. If the 7s players return it could be a quandary for CW as the league has limits on the number of carded players allowed in a lineup. The Bays, even though missing their Eagles, will have a similar problem if the likes of John Moonlight, Phil Mack, Connor Braid are released for action. It could be one of the top games of the BC Premier season.
CW Lineup vs Rowers
Matt Buckley
Hubert Buydens
Keelan Chapman
Justin Conway
Clayton Daum
Miles Dingwall
Steve Grdic
Jake Ilnicki
Riley Ilnicki
Gord Kehoe
Riley Macpherson
Doug Middleton
Ander Monro
Jonny Morris
Chad Northcott
John Phelan
Sam Rocher
Andrew Tiedemann
R Tomlinson
Jacobus Johannes Van Heerden