World Rugby may call it the Americas Pacific Challenge but without any Pacific Nations it looks more like the Americas Rugby Championship minus Canada.
[ed. note some schedule changes below ‡.]
VANCOUVER A new competition in high performance mens rugby is coming to British Columbia, the Coastal Cup is set to launch Sept. 25.
[ed. if your local newspaper has a story about your club and its plans for rugby this fall, email us the link, editor@bcrugbynews.com]
from Nanaimo News Now
NANAIMO Hornets rugby is returning to Nanaimo with fall programs for all ages.
Practices for the fall season begin Sept. 7 for the mens team and Sept. 9 for the women.
Last weekend Canada put in the near perfect performance to claim a win over their American rivals, this weekend they didn’t show up with the same mental focus and were smothered by a USA team that did the basics well.
France and Japan have dropped out of the Vancouver 7s and presumably out of the Edmonton 7s. New teams Mexico, Jamaica and Hong Kong have been added.
Nathan Hirayama announced his retirement from international rugby 7s on Instagram. The statement is below.
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.