It’s a good thing relegation was off the table for this season with Great Britain absorbing England, Wales, Scotland next season. Japan would have been relegated and then the tie breaking rules would have been brought into play as Canada and Wales finished in the second relegation position, both tied with 34 points.
It’s time for a quick reflection on where we are, rugby-wise, in BC and Canada as the summer of 2022 comes to a close.
The bad news is Canada lost and finished 3rd behind Uruguay and Zimbabwe, the good news is they won the second half 21-12.
There were four Canadians drafted in Round 1, Cali Martinez went as 3rd pick to DC, Seth Purdey went to Atlanta as 4th pick, Owain Ruttan was 5th pick by Toronto and Ethan Hager went 8th pick to Dallas.
The BC Bears won the Shield Final over Team Germany 21-7 to finish 12th in the tournament. Perhaps not the ranking they were expecting going into the tournament but as their tournament description states, “This programs goal is to provide a competition pathway for BC players to gain experience and showcase themselves towards National team selections.”
The Vancouver Island Thunder defeated the Okanagan Coos in the semi-final and then the host Westshore in the final. Westshore had defeated the Marlins, winners of the Kelowna 7s, in the other semi in extra time. The tournament MVP would have to be Grady Bowd, he’s an exceptional talent.
Canada’s support play this match was a lot better, they didn’t leave as many players stranded but their scrum was under pressure for most of the match.
The BC Rugby season is just over 3 weeks away and we’ll take a look at some key dates and changes. The BCRU haven’t filled in their fixtures page yet so always check there for any last minute changes.
In the wake of the Canada U20 loss to Zimbabwe we dove a little deeper into the play and analyzed the first Zimbabwe try. The conclusion is that it came down to winning the one on one battle at the breakdown, coupled with some chaos in the defence.
A disappointing performance by Canada as a well drilled Zimbabwe U20 squad ran out to a 20-7 halftime lead and then weathered a Canadian comeback to close the game with two late tries and claim the win.