The Vancouver Wave struck first just 3 minutes into the match with a lineout and maul that went to ground just short of the goal line, a couple of pick and goes saw them go over, Mike Moloney converted, 7-0. At this early stage of the game the Wave lineout looked to be functioning well and as the commentator noted, the Wave team seemed suited to a strong forwards match while the Tide would likely rely on an expansive game.
An excellent end of tour match for the U18 Dog River Howlers as they defeated the German National U18 team 24-15 to finish the tour with 3 wins from 3 games. The team was predominantly a BC U18 team with 23 of the 28 tour players from BC and coaches from St. George’s and Shawnigan schools. The match video can be viewed here.
Canada won their first match in South Africa taking a 26-3 half time lead and finishing off with two late tries to win 50-20. The Canada backline looked dangerous during periods of the match finding space out wide but the Canadian forwards weren’t as dominant in this match compared to recent performances. The scrum was under pressure for most of the match. Canada were in control from the opening whistle but won’t be happy with the 3 second half tries they conceded considering they were playing a team ranked 10 places below them.
The UBCOB Ravens announced they will be re-establishing a women’s team for the 2025-26 season with Jake Thiel as head coach. The media release is below. We also dug into the archives to look at the history of women’s rugby at Jericho with some excerpts from the research of Doug Sturrock and Dave Pearcey. The Jericho Old Girls were one of three Vancouver women’s teams in 1978 and can claim to be the first champions of the West Coast Women’s Rugby Association (WCWRA) which was started in 1981 with 1982 being the first season played. The team coaches were well known UBCOB players Doug Carr, Rick Bourne, and Garth Henrikson. It doesn’t appear the team continued into the 90s and I’m not sure if there were more recent revivals since then, we’ll update the article if we find more information.
It was a team with 7 Canadians in the roster vs a team with no Canadians, and the good guys won. New England had Andrew Quattrin at hooker, Piers von Dadelszen in the second row, Ben Lesage at outside centre and Brock Webster at fullback. In the reserves for New England were Foster Dewitt #16, Josh Larsen #19, Ethan Fryer #20.
This week several announcements about Rugby Canada players, coaches and staff either staying, leaving or moving on came across the desk, hence the “Who is Leaving, Staying and Moving On”. It could become a regular column.
Kevin Rouet has named the 32 players to travel to South Africa for two warm up matches in July prior to the World Cup in August. The big news is that Sophie de Goede is deemed match fit after almost a year off due to injury. Another high profile addition is Carissa Norsten from the 7s team. Missing out from the last match against Australia are Emily Tuttosi, Julia Omokhuale, Asia Hogan-Rochester, also missing is Paige Farries.
The Canadian Touch Rugby Nationals will be held at the Westshore rugby club on Saturday and Sunday, June 28th and 29th. The Meralomas are defending champions. Teams will be coming from the east Montreal/Ottawa (Montowa) and Toronto, from the south (Portland, Seattle) and from BC (Victoria, Meralomas, Scribes, Samurai). Early intel says the Samurai team, organized out of Vancouver, may be one of the early favourites.
On June 12th there was a 59 player extended squad announced, that has further been reduced to 42 players for the pre-match camp and the final 32 player list will be announced in July. There are some big names missing from the original 59 player list, just in the backs Andrew Coe, Spencer Jones, Shane O’Leary, Josiah Morra aren’t on the list, they would have been contenders for starting spots. Mark Balaski, Tiarnan Neville are missing so the #10 selection gets narrowed down. The forwards are less affected with most of the projected starters present.
A new CEO and a new President in quick succession, it will be interesting to see what direction the BCRU takes with the changes at the top. Andy Margolis is COO at Vancouver International Airport, originally from the UK, as is the new CEO, Matthew Carter. Margolis worked at Heathrow Airport holding positions as Head of Operations, Airport Security Manager and Terminal Manager. He also had a term as Operations Manager – Neighbourhood Policing Team at Thames Valley Police. He brings a lot of background skills to this new position.