Author Archive: BCRN

Canadian Coaching Talent

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From Fort Nelson, BC to Tokyo, Japan: Lesley McKenzie Renews Contract as Head Coach of Japan’s Women’s XVs Team

Congratulations to Lesley McKenzie on having her head coach contract renewed by the Japan Rugby Union. McKenzie who is from Fort Nelson, BC, a small community of just over 3,000 near the Yukon and NWT borders, was first hired by the Japan Rugby Union in 2019 to coach the women’s XVs program. During that time she’s taken them from ranked 16th in the world to ranked 12th in the world, an impressive accomplishment.

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2022 in Review

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What to Make of 2022 – Rugby Highlights and Reflections

2022, what to make of it from a BC and Canadian rugby perspective? Obviously the top story is the women’s World Cup, Canada finished 4th, maybe a little disappointing for the world #3 team but they represented well, the tournament gained a lot of media coverage and progressed women’s rugby worldwide. Sophie de Goede probably put herself at the top of the list for most media-recognizable rugby player in Canada now, male or female.

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Super Rugby Americas 2023

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Super Rugby Americas to Kick Off on February 18th: Includes a North American Team For First Time

Super Rugby Americas, the redesigned SLAR competition, is set to kick off on February 18th with a North American team in the competition for the first time. The American Raptors out of Glendale, Colorado will compete along with teams from Argentina (2), Uruguay, Chile, Brazil and Paraguay.

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Players in the News

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Jason Marshall Hits the World Stage Again: This Time in the World Rowing Indoor Championships

Jason Marshall is hitting the news but in a different sport, the World Rowing Indoor Championships. He’s one of 10 athletes to compete at the Versa Challenge in February. The article below from World Rowing gives the details but we went through our database as well to scan through his rugby history.

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Six Nations 2023

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Guinness Six Nations 2023 Schedule and Match Official Assignments

World Rugby announced the match official assignments for the men’s Six Nations 2023. The schedule and assignments are listed below.

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Rugby Fitness

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Thoughts on Rugby Fitness, Bronco Tests and the World School 7s

[ed. comments below]

I got on this thread about rugby fitness after watching the Japan SDS team win the World School 7s tournament in NZ. The Japan team defeated the highly favoured Australia and NZ girls teams to win the tournament. I watched a number of games on both the boys and girls side and one thing that jumped out at me was the gap in fitness among teams. Of course fitness alone won’t win 7s matches, but without it, winning is difficult. I contacted a number of coaches who watched the tournament to get their thoughts around the Japan win. One noted, “good skills and the fitness that allows them to use them, a desire to work for each other, plus a couple of strong orchestrators”. Another noted, “if you want to simplify why Japanese teams do this, it all comes down to 2 things, discipline and respect”.

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World School 7s 2022

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BC U18 Teams Wrap Up Tournament: Girls 2-3 Finish in 11th/12th, Boys 0-5 Finish in 15th/16th

[ed. update Japan SDS (Sevens Development Squad) won the girls title defeating the NZ and Australian U18 teams, a big upset. On the boys side it was the expected result, NZ U18 team winning.]

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