Author Archive: BCRN

2025 in Review – January to March

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A Review of 2025 from January to March: U18, MLR, BC Rugby Season, Men’s and Women’s 7s, U20, High School, University, Pacific Pride, Editorials

We posted over 300 articles last year and we’ll go through some of the key ones from January to March. We’ve highlighted 21 articles that give a quick overview of the first quarter of the season, starting with U18, to MLR, BC Rugby season, men’s and women’s 7s, U20, high school, university, Pacific Pride, guest posts and Rugby Canada shenanigans at the admin level.

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Happy Holidays 2025

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It’s that time of year, time to take a rest, rejuvenate, enjoy friends and family and put rugby on the back burner for a day or two. We’ll be back on December 26th to start our review of the year’s highlights and look at what’s coming for 2026.

So Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas, Happy Solstice whatever name you put to the end of year celebrations. See you in a couple of days to review the year and look ahead to the new year.

Mark
Editor BCRN

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BCRU Updates – December 2025

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What’s Happening with BCRU Board? Two Recent Resignations;  Hall of Fame Nominees Not Ratified and HoF Event Cancelled

The recent media release from the BCRU (see below) was short and to the point, Board President Andy Margolis was resigning. I received a message from a long time member of the BC Rugby community shortly after, “Can’t believe the guy quit or was relieved after three months [ed. more like 5 months], I have a hard time accepting someone of his calibre changes his mind about the state of rugby in BC in just three months. Any hard hitting journalism about the BCRU coming out?” I was being called out, probably the only person resembling a rugby journalist in BC nowadays, what’s Patrick Johnston doing these days, and Dan Fumano, they’re real journalists but they have real jobs as well. OK, I’ll spill my guts and tell you what I know.

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Premier Women’s Rugby – December 2025 – Round 8

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Update on the English Premier Women’s Rugby (PWR) Round 8 – 9 Canadians in Action

The PWR wrapped up their season until January 30th. There were 9 Canadians in action with Fancy Bermudez, Olivia Apps and Alysha Corrigan crossing the line for tries. Exeter with 5 Canadians in the roster had a bye week and there are still some injuries, including Sophie de Goede who shared her injury status on social media, “Last couple months have been frustrating, ones dealing with a cartilage defect in my right knee requiring surgery round 3, feels like this one moment a year and a half ago is still holding me down and rehab won’t let me out of its grips, trusting the process and my body though, and looking forward to getting back to doing what I love most asap.” We’re all wishing the best for Sophie on her recuperation.

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Global Youth Sevens 2025

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Global Youth Sevens Wrap Up: BC Bears Finish 13th, MacDowell Girls 23rd, MacDowell Boys 35th in 72 Team Tournament

It is the premier youth 7s tournament in the world, 72 teams, 40 boys and 32 girls, converge on NZ each December for elite rugby 7s. This year there were 6 teams from North America, 3 from Canada and 3 from USA. The 3 Canadian teams were BC girls, the MacDowell Academy girls and the MacDowell Academy boys. The MacDowell Academy is based in Cowichan on Vancouver Island with academies across western Canada in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba. The USA sent two national teams USA girls and USA boys, the Belmont Shore club in California also sent a boys team.

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Rugby Canada Updates – December 2025

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Shawn Bullock Named as High Performance Director for Rugby Canada

Shawn Bullock, who has been working as a High-Performance consultant with Rugby Canada since 2022, has been named High Performance Director, replacing Stephen Aboud. According to his Linkedin profile, he also was working as the interim High-Performance Director for Nordiq Canada, the cross-country skiing NSO, during his time consulting with Rugby Canada. Nordiq Canada is based out of Canmore, Alberta. Prior to that he had time with Biathlon Canada (Canmore) as a High-Performance Consultant, and Hockey Canada as Director of Men’s National Teams (Calgary).

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SVNS Series Updates – December 2025

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USA Men’s 7s Announce 18 Players for Residency Contracts at High Performance Centre in Chula Vista, California

The USA men are preparing for the upcoming 7s season which for them means starting in the SVNS 2 Series in February and hoping they make the top 4 in that series to make it to the SVNS World Championship series of tournaments starting in April. They have a centralized residency program operating out of the High Performance Center based in Chula Vista, California. The Canadian men are starting at the SVNS 3 level and hoping to finish top two in the one off tournament in Dubai in January. A top two finish will mean they’ll be joining USA in the SVNS 2 series and competing for the four open spots in the SVNS World Championship.

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World Rugby Updates – December 2025

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World Rugby Announces Lower Tackle Height Trial Extended to U20 Championship in 2026: Becomes Full Law in Community Game from July 2026

The sternum level tackle height trial will be extended to the U20 Championship in 2026. The dates haven’t been announced but the 2025 tournament started June 29th and wrapped up July 19th. In 2026 the tournament takes place in Georgia and will be expanded from 12 teams to 16 teams with USA, Fiji, Japan and Uruguay being added.

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Premier Women’s Rugby – December 2025 – Round 7

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Update on the English Premier Women’s Rugby (PWR) Round 7 – 13 Canadians in Action

There’s one week of PWR action left before the winter break, the season recommences January 30th. There were 13 Canadians in action, one less than last week. Most of the Canadians, 10, were in one match Exeter v Saracens. There are still a number of Canadians not showing up in the match day rosters, Sophie de Goede, Fancy Bermudez, Laetitia Royer, Julia Schell, Claire Gallagher are a few of the prominent players missing from this week’s rosters.

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Players in the News – December 2025

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Article on Jamie Cudmore from The Times: From Squamish to Luxembourg and Concussion Awareness

The Times based in London ran a recent article on Jamie Cudmore, it covers his fight with concussion awareness, his time at Clermont as a professional rugby player, his formative years in Squamish, his time with Rugby Canada, his current status as coach in France and Luxembourg, and his desire to come back to Canada one day as the men’s coach. It’s worth a read. We came across the article as graphic scans (jpg files) and used the wonders of Ai to transcribe it into text as the original article is behind a paywall. The article is below in graphic format and text.

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