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.
[ed. the money is being distributed through viaSport, contact them for details.]
VICTORIA Children, families and athletes will see their local sport organizations able to continue providing sport programs, thanks to increased support from the Province.
[ed. updated the Rugby Canada Report appended below]
Rugby Canada issued an update on their status after they completed their 2019 AGM (virtually) this past weekend, the financials should be out by Wednesday. That report is posted below. Also we’ll add a few background notes in a paragraph below.
The Crusaders were hit with their first loss this weekend but are still in the driver’s seat. Blues in second have 17 points with only two games left, Hurricanes in third have 16 points with 2 games left. The Crusaders at 19 points have three games left so their magic number is 28 points to win the competition, that’s 9 points from 3 games. They’re still clear favourites.