NZ 7s Wraps Up: Canada Men Finish 14th and Women Finish 11th: Match Videos
A disappointing tournament overall for both the men and women in New Zealand, both teams dropped in the rankings.
Author Archive: BCRN
Rugby Weekend of January 20th
What’s on This Weekend: NZ 7s on CBC Sports, CanWest 7s on CanWestTV, UBC host CWU, UVic Intersquad Match
There are a few rugby events on this weekend for watching, obviously, the NZ 7s on CBC Sports. That kicks off at 12:10pm PST on Friday with the Canada men taking on South Africa.
Rugby Canada Updates – January 2023
Rugby Canada Add Two More UK Hirings to be Shared with Toronto Arrows – Bombrys States Arrows Provide Canada’s Only Professional High Performance Environment
New CEO Nathan Bombrys is doubling down on bringing in offshore expertise and doubling down in his belief the Toronto Arrows are the solution to the men’s XVs problems. Rugby Canada announced Alex Lee, previously with Ealing Trailfinders, and Richard Owen, previously with the Welsh Rugby Union, will be hired and embedded with the Toronto Arrows for the season. Outside of the MLR season they’ll be assigned Rugby Canada team duties. It’s an arrangement similar to Robert Howley’s, there’s no word if World Rugby are also paying these salaries, as they do for Howley.
From the Editor’s Desk – January 2023
Wales Head Coach Warren Gatland Wants Robert Howley Back – A Reflection on the Canadian Coaching Pathway
Warren Gatland wants his coaching mate, Robert Howley, back in the Wales fold. His comments were captured in the Guardian article linked below. He basically wants Howley forgiven but apparently the WRU blocked the move.
Canadian Rugby Players Association
Rugby Canada Announces New MOU with Canadian Rugby Players Association: A Look Back on the Player Strike of 2018 and Formation of CRPA in 2020
Rugby Canada announced a new Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) has been signed with the Canadian Rugby Players Association (CRPA) which marks the beginning of discussions on a new collective agreement. The CRPA was started in 2020 and its first chair was Jeff Hassler.
Rugby Canada Updates – January 2023
Rugby Canada Hires Hong Kong Women’s 7s Coach: Background at Glasgow
News out of Hong Kong is that Rugby Canada has hired Iain Monaghan who is currently the coach of the Hong Kong women’s 7s team. His role wasn’t specified in the South China Morning Post article, the article mentions “the Scotsman will have a roving brief across the Sevens programme as part of his job”.
Rugby News From Around the Globe
More Coaches Sacked and Hired: Dave Rennie Gone From Australia and Eddie Jones Hired
The most interesting rugby story to come out of the weekend was the move of Eddie Jones to Australia as coach, as Dave Rennie got the sack in Australia. Jones had been England’s coach but was sacked and there was speculation around his final destination, it’s now confirmed to be Australia. Here are some of the articles on the subject from around the rugby world.
UBC Thunderbirds – January 2023
UBC Thunderbirds Defeat Saint Mary’s Gaels 33-28
It was a close match in muddy conditions as the T-Birds went into the half down 21-19 but scored twice early in the second half and then conceded a late try to claim the win.
Coaching Updates – January 2023
USA Rugby Announces Interim Coaches for Men’s & Women’s XVs: Men’s XVs Coach and GM High Performance, Scott Lawrence, Has a Plan
USA Rugby announced on January 5th the appointment of two interim coaches while their high performance review continues. Neither the men’s or women’s XVs team met expectations so the contracts of the head coaches were not renewed and a high performance review initiated.
Players in the News
Interview with Adam Zaruba, Owner of AZ Elite Performance: We Talk Rugby, 7s Career, NFL, Advice to Young Players
BCRN: Hi Adam, we heard you’re in Victoria now and have started a business called AZ Elite Performance. Let’s start there and then work backwards to talk about rugby and football, the NFL kind. We saw a couple of announcements on your Instagram account @thezoobs. The first one, from September 5th 2022, I believe. Tell us a bit how things have been going since September. I should mention the website is www.coachzaruba.com.