The Pacific Pride defeated the Island Crimson Tide 54-25 to win the McKechnie Cup for the 2nd time in the cup’s 127 year history. The Pride won it the for first time in 2002, a few years before the program was cancelled in 2005. The Pacific Pride program was reintroduced again in 2019.
The Cape Town 7s wrapped up with NZ winning the women’s tournament and Samoa winning the men’s tournament. The top four teams in the women’s standings are Australia, NZ, USA and France, for the men it’s Samoa, South Africa, NZ and USA. That’s important as the top four teams in the standings at the end of the season qualify for the 2024 Olympics in Paris. It doesn’t look like Canada will be in the running for one of those four spots but if USA qualify then Canada’s road in the regional tournament will be much easier.
The four Provincial championships were originally to be held Dec 4th at Cowichan but freezing weather and snow north of the Malahat changed plans. The U16 titles were able to go ahead in Oak Bay and were won by Langley (girls) and Bayside (boys). The BCRU write up on the day is posted below.
One point to come out of the Men’s University Championships is that UBC are in a class of their own in Canadian University Rugby. They amassed a +116 point differential over the three rounds to win the title for the 4th time in 5 years. They defeated McGill 48-5 in the 60 minute match and took their foot off the gas for the last 20 when they were ahead 41-0.
The Canadian men dropped from 10th place to 12th place in the series standings with a 14th place finish in Dubai. Probably the most concerning for new coach Sean White is how they were humbled by the Spanish, 38-7, in the 13th place final match. Spain is ranked 13th in the series, Kenya 14th and Japan 15th. The 15th place team will be dropped at the end of the series, the 12th to 14th place teams will play a repechage tournament along with the winner of the Sevens Challenger Series to determine who stays in the series for 2023-24. Canada also lost to Kenya in Dubai.
The McKechnie Cup and Dunbar Keg matches scheduled for this weekend at Abbotsford and Capilano have been cancelled due to weather and field conditions. The last round continues next weekend, weather permitting, Vancouver v Fraser Valley, North Island v South Island (Dunbar Keg) and Pacific Pride v Island.
Starting in December 2023 there will be only 12 teams in the men’s World Rugby 7s series, reduced from 16. There will then be parity with the women’s series who are currently at 12 teams. Both the men and women will play 7 tournaments over 7 months at “super” events, hosts and dates to be announced in the coming months.
The CUMRC, the Canadian University Men’s Rugby Championship, kicks off Wednesday. All matches will be streamed by the www.therugbynetwork.com
[ed. photos from the Dunbar Keg match North Island v Fraser Valley can be viewed here.]
The BC Premier has closed down for the Dec/Jan break and it’s the McKechnie Cup and U20 Dunbar Keg regional matches now. It took a while to get the rosters but they’re in now. Vancouver weren’t able to put together a U20 team and the South Island win that match be default.
from BCRU
BOYS TEAM
BC Rugby is delighted to announce the U18 BC Bears Elite Boys 7s squad heading to the 2022 World School Sevens in New Zealand this December.