Pacific Pride
I touched base with Jamie Cudmore over the phone to find out what’s happening there. They’re doing as much as they can while conforming to provincial health regulations. That means they’re focused on fitness and skills work in small groups, both inside in the gym and outside on the field.
The Crusaders v Blues match was cancelled due to COVID and each team were awarded 2 points. With the Hurricanes loss to the Highlanders it didn’t effect the standings with the Blues finishing second and the Hurricanes third.
World Rugby will select the next four World Cups (2 for men, 2 for women) in the same process. The World Rugby article below gives more details but basically the process starts Feb 2021 with a dialogue phase. The formal phase starts May 2021 with submissions expected by January 2022. Evaluation by World Rugby starts February 2022 and a vote takes place in May 2022.
There hasn’t been a lot of local rugby news and we’ve been focusing lately on where rugby is actually being played, in Super Rugby Aotearoa, NZ. But it’s time to catch up on some local news and what’s happening outside of NZ.
The Crusaders have wrapped up the title with one week left. The Blues v Crusaders match next weekend will end the season with a grudge match that neither side will want to lose.
There’s a new rugby program on Vancouver Island that looks to “build community through rugby and help build resilience in youth”. It’s called BC Grassroots Rugby Foundation and is spearheaded by former Canada player Clay Panga. Part of their inspiration is the TIRF (Toronto Inner City Rugby Foundation), their motto is “Building Community Through Rugby and Rugby Through Community”.
A little over a century ago the World was fighting another pandemic, the Spanish Flu. It was a different time, a World War was winding down and the two events briefly overlapped in the fall of 1918. This is part 5 of the series. Part 1 started in October 1918 when the Spanish Flu first arrived in BC.
The Crusaders and Blues both claimed bonus point wins but with only two weeks left, the Blues are running out of time for a late run at the title. The Crusaders just have to win at home next week against the Highlanders to wrap it up, if they lose then it comes down to the final Blues v Crusaders match.
As usual there’s good news and bad news. The good news is Rugby Canada shaved over a million off “Staff Salaries, Commissions and Benefits”. They went from $2.4M in 2018 to $1.2M in 2019. They also cut “National Office and General Administration” in half from $1M to $500K.
Following the recently announced conclusion of the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, with New Zealand confirmed as both mens and womens champions, World Rugby and its partners are continuing to focus on planning for the 2021 Series and the build-up to the Olympic Games in Tokyo, which are now less than one year away.