Canada’s first match in the WRWC will take place Sunday October 9th, 2022 against Asia 1 which is likely to be Japan. Their second match will be Sunday October 16th against Europe 1, likely Ireland or Scotland. The final pool match will be against rivals USA on Sunday October 23rd.
The US have named a 41 player preliminary roster that will be reduced to 30 by late June. It’s a good move and allows the MLR teams to plan early around the disruption of the July tests. Rugby Canada have stated they will release their list by mid-June and whether that’s an extended roster or closer to the travelling 30 man roster, remains to be seen.
The PHO (Provincial Health Officer) announced today a 4 step plan to restart the province. Step 1 commences May 25th and in terms of sport and exercise states: “Outdoor games and practices for both adults and youth group/team sports allowed”.
[ed. The BC Grassroots team leader and youth coach positions are available in Victoria, Esquimalt, Cowichan, Nanaimo, Port Alberni, Comox and Kelowna. The Indigenous Program Co-Ordinator position is available in Victoria, Esquimalt, Cowichan, Nanaimo.]
Each team has seven matches left in the regular season with the top two in each division going into the playoffs.
BCRN: Hi Curry, we’d like to talk about High Performance rugby in BC and what plans UBC has to fill that space.
Kieran Crowley has been named the coach of Italy after putting in his time with the Italian PRO 14 club Benetton since 2016. Crowley was the Canada coach prior to that, he ended his term with Canada shortly after the 2015 Rugby World Cup. If you need a reminder of that fiasco, where he was rehired on a 2 year term but then he declined the offer and went to Italy, here’s the article from Jan 6, 2016.
The 2016-2021 years might be referred to as the Newfoundland era of Canadian Rugby in future generations. It was marked by the three most influential positions in Canadian rugby being held by Newfoundlanders, a remarkable accomplishment considering the province represents less than 2% of the national population. Dr Pat Parfrey, is the Canadian representative on the World Rugby Council, Allen Vansen is the CEO and Tim Powers was the Chair of the Board. Dr. Parfrey has been a driving force in Canadian rugby for years and was the leader of the “agents of change” who took control of the Rugby Canada Board in 2001. Both Powers and Vansen took on their role in 2016. Tim Powers is Chairman of a public affairs consulting firm, Summa Strategies and Allen Vansen is a former ski coach and golf resort Managing Director who held operational management positions for both the 2010 Vancouver Olympics and the 2015 PanAm Games.
A few Canadian highlights in the wins this week. For San Diego, Michael Smith helped his national selection chances with a strong 80 minutes at openside flanker in their strong win over NOLA. For Toronto, Will Kelly put his hand up for consideration as he got his first start at #10. At LA Corey Thomas continues to impress going a full 80 in the engine room and scoring a try. At DC, Doug Fraser marked his return to the lineup at #13 with a try.
[ed. we’ve no doubt inadvertently overlooked someone, we’ll revisit the selections in a couple of weeks to update the percentages based on new data and reader feedback. Use the comment section below or email editor@bcrugbynews.com to add your thoughts.]