Three weeks after an epic game at UBC these same teams took it up a notch at Jericho producing as good a regular season game as you will see in BC. The Ravens prevailed with five tries to UBC’s four but truly the teams are evenly matched and may be heading for a final meeting come playoff time.
Another early morning for the Kamloops Raiders as the Men and Women headed off to Ridge Meadows and Bayside respectively.
The Sharks from Bayside kicked off to the Raider Ladies under grey skies and cool temperatures at South Surrey Athletic Park. The Sharks came out flying and were very aggressive at the breakdown, causing problems for the Raiders. Both sides swapped possession initially with Milena Chambers, Riley Halvorson, and Mya Giardullo providing solid carries for the Raiders under significant Bayside pressure. Bayside eventually secured consistent possession and were the first to open the scoring, try was unconverted 0-5 Bayside.
Week 14 has wrapped up, the Ravens remain top of the table with Westshore, UBC and Capilano in pursuit. In Women’s Premier some mismatches as UBC hit their title defending form but Lomas still top the table. There were numerous national team and MLR level players in the rosters this week Andrew Coe, Josiah Morra, Reegan O’Gorman, Callum Botchar, Noah Flesch, Mason Flesch, Emerson Prior, Mark Balaski, Guiseppe du Toit and more.
A few items on the Editor’s desk this morning, UVic Vikes men’s team are in Portugal and they’ve won their first two matches. The BCRU has updated the penalties for infractions of the Player Eligibility Rules. There’s a high school player who has started a Petition to persuade BC School Sports to allow him to play rugby this season.
The women’s English Premiership just wrapped Round 11 last weekend and there were 16 Canadian players in action. Exeter had the largest contingent with all 5 of their players in the roster, next were Saracens and Ealing with 3 of the 7 Canadians in action. Still some big names missing like Sophie de Goede and Julia Schell. There’s still 5 weeks left before the April break for the Pacific Four tournament. Gloucester remains top of the standings with Saracens in 2nd and Exeter and Harlequins trailing. The top 4 teams go into the semi-finals in June.
This article is based on a YouTube video interview with Les Cusworth on the United Rugby Fans channel. You can find the full video here. I generally put interviews and podcasts through NotebookLM now to get an executive summary, I find it distills the interview to key points which from a time management point of view is helpful. Not everything in the Argentine model will work in Canada but there are some key points worth considering, basically it’s celebrating the amateur model based on local clubs, keeping travel down and bottom-up growth.
Julianne Zussman gets two appointments in the Pacific Four series, she’s the referee for USA v NZ on April 11th in Sacramento and then USA v Australia on April 17th in Kansas City. Emma Gallagher and Kristine Lovatt are the ARs in both of those matches. Cam Russell is TMO for both of those matches as well. Gallagher is also AR in the USA v Canada match on April 24th in Chicago.
Germany claimed the first tournament title with an upset win over the previously undefeated USA on Day 2. Based on the scoring system from the SVNS 1 tournaments, there’s 3 points for win and a bonus point for a loss by 7 or less. Germany, Kenya and USA all had 4-1 records, Germany picked up a bonus point in their loss to Kenya (-5). The standings in the first tournament would be Germany 13, USA and Kenya 12, Uruguay 8, Belgium 4, Canada 1. With two tournaments left, it’s not looking good for Canada, they’ll have to finish top four in the remaining tournaments and hope a couple of other teams falter. The next tournament is in Uruguay.
It was an entertaining game for viewers with lots of scoring but when looked at from a development perspective where this is supposed to be the Rugby Canada academy team preparing players for higher levels, there are lots of questions to ask. Before asking those questions first kudos to the Pacific Pride for finally getting their streaming act together, this being the second match on their channel. Also kudos to the Atlantic Privateers for making the trip and getting their season off to a strong start.
The USA will host the majority of the Pacific Four series in April with Australia hosting New Zealand in the 6th match. It will be interesting for Canada as Jack Hanratty the former Canadian 7s coach will be in charge of team USA for the first time at this tournament. The PWR league in the UK shuts down for April and resumes at the end of May between Rounds 16 and 17 so all UK based players will be available. There was no sign of Sophie de Goede in the Saracens roster this past weekend so her recovery from injury remains a concern.