There’s a new kid on the block, at least on paper. The World 12’s announced themselves this week and they have some heavy backers, such as All Blacks coach Steve Hanson who is a World 12s Ambassador. Here are some news links to get up to speed.
The magic of St. John’s continues. It seems to always go well for Canada when they’re playing in St. John’s. Canada played their best game, USA were woeful on the day – the bounces didn’t go their way, they couldn’t capitalize on two yellow cards, even HIA assessments didn’t go their way. Canada will take the 34-21 win, thank you, and hope they can do enough in next week’s encounter to keep their +13 advantage.
As expected from previous reports, many of the pros are not available for this series. That includes Tyler Ardron, Evan Olmstead, Tyler Duguid and Will Percillier. The reasons why are open to speculation, the importance of maintaining a pro contract, possible displeasure with Rugby Canada and the coaching staff, COVID related protocols, etc. Regardless they’re not available for this series so a chance for domestic players to step up.
The Point Grey Thunder are really a UBC Rugby League team and they just won the BC Rugby League championship this weekend. UBC’s rugby coach, Curry Hitchborn, has been an advocate of playing as much rugby as you can, even if it’s another code. The skills picked up in Rugby League transfer well to Union, and vice-versa.
We posted all 37 photos on our backup site nationalrugbynews.com but we’ve posted a few of the photos below. Also the lineups for the match are listed below.
[ed. comments below]
Last week I travelled with the Thunder Indigenous program to document their youth camps in Shawnigan Lake, Capilano and Abbotsford. The tour was supposed to continue to Kamloops and Prince George but with the wildfires closing down the Coquihalla Highway earlier that week and the air quality index a concern, the decision was made to cancel the last two stops. It turned out to be a moot point as the truck carrying the coaches and equipment broke down on the 4 lane highway between Vancouver and Abbotsford. The truck decided it wasn’t going any further than Abbotsford anyway.
We had a call into camp HQ today and what we heard wasn’t the most encouraging news for Canadian rugby fans. It appears as if Tyler Ardron and Evan Olmstead won’t be leaving Europe to join the team in St. John’s, Newfoundland. This would apply to others plying their trade in Europe as well such as Tyler Duguid and perhaps Will Percillier. There’s still some negotiation ongoing with Percillier’s club but it’s wait and see on that.
There’s a Level 1 Match Officials training course starting this week and anyone interested in picking up the whistle is encouraged to register.
[ed. This schedule does not include the Coastal Cup, the high level regional men’s competition starting September 25th.]
The Age-Grade Fall season will properly get underway at the Kamloops 7s over the Thanksgiving weekend and build to the Regional Championships, while Senior Club leagues will start October 16 and run for eight weeks ahead of a fully-competitive Spring season.
The venerable Pride program is shaking off COVID and preparing for the upcoming season.
With players coming from across the country and a very tight rental market, it is taking time to find suitable accommodation to house groups of players. We are calling on supporters in the hope that we can find short-term accommodation for individual players.