The exact question from the reader, in the comments section, was: I remember being young and reading about rugby matches between BC Bears and Ontario Blues and Atlantic Rock. I think there was a team in the Prairies too. Do these teams still exist? What happened to them? Weren’t they supposed to be the step below the national team; a feeder for the national team?
Canada were leading right up to the final whistle but made some poor decisions in the last 5 minutes and lost the match on a Spain penalty kick at the whistle. It’s a game Canada should have won, up a player in the final minutes and camped at the Spain 5 metres due to multiple penalties against Spain. Canada could have kicked for the 3, they could have spun it wide with the penalty advantage, but they decided to keep grinding in the forwards and eventually gave up a penalty. Spain won their lineout, won a couple of penalties in Canada’s half and eventually chose the posts at the whistle. It was a cruel loss for a team that hasn’t had many successes on the field.
World Rugby confirmed what they had hinted at in an earlier media release in April, that the Tier 1 JWC U20 tournament will be expanded from 12 to 16 teams. Today they released more details, the tournament will be hosted by Georgia and that the four extra teams will be Fiji, USA, Japan and Uruguay. Fiji because they were the last team relegated in 2024, and the other three as they finished 2nd to 4th at the 2024 JWRT.
The provincial U17 teams will hold camps at Shawnigan Lake from August 3-7 with matches on August 5-7. The boys will be playing a school from the UK and the Alberta Wolfpack, the girls will play 2 games against the Wolfpack. After the camp 24 players from each squad will be selected for a tour to Ontario for a 3 match series from August 23-31. The boys have brought 30 players to camp and the girls 26 players.
I came across this article through Karl Fix who is planning on taking a U19 team down to Argentina in 2026 and his contact there is Les Cusworth. From a Canadian perspective we’re always looking for lessons that can be learned and applied to make our rugby better, specifically our men’s XVs program, which has hit a low patch. So what is Argentina doing right and what might be relevant in a BC and Canadian context? As a side note I’ll have an opportunity to have a chat with Les Cusworth, so if readers have additional questions they would like me to ask, mention them in the comments or email editor@bcrugbynews.com
The BCRU have announced the men’s and women’s teams to take part in the U19 Canadian Rugby Championships which start next week. The men’s coach is Curry Hitchborn and the women’s coach is Jake Thiel. Last year the men came second to Ontario, losing a close 17-10 match in the final. Ontario also won the women’s title, BC finished with 3 losses and a draw. The teams kick off on July 22nd with both teams facing the Atlantic Rock.
The U20 World Championships wraps up on Saturday with the semi-final rounds completed today. The World Rugby report is below, basically NZ and South Africa will meet in the final. Spain and Ireland will compete in the 11th place playoff, normally that would mean one of them would be relegated but not this year because the U20 Tier 2 competition is in flux and there was no JWRT this year. We’ll also look at what’s in store for the U20 Tier 2 competition next year and where Canada fits in. We finish with some comments from Karl Fix who took a U18 team to Germany this year and plans on taking a U19 team to Argentina next year.
Two first half tries by Josiah Morra and Andrew Quattrin saw Canada ahead 13-12 at halftime. Canada were the better team in the first half but couldn’t finish off plays and conceded two soft tries to Belgium. Belgium gained confidence from this while Canada went into panic mode in the second half, compounding their errors. Belgium owned the second half going ahead 25-13 from a try and two penalties. Canada scored a consolation try at the whistle for a 25-18 final.
It wasn’t perfect but Canada’s defence limited South Africa to one second half try which is a victory in itself, after conceding 20 points last match. There are definitely some work-ons, two 1st half yellow cards had Canada playing with 13 players at one point. A couple of 1st half penalty advantages didn’t see the kicks go into touch, a few too many line breaks allowed but the cover defence was strong. Also two players lost, the injury to Rori Wood looking serious and Laetitia Royer holding her shoulder going off.
The BC Rugby season is about 2 months away but it’s never to early to start thinking about it, right? This year’s Premier season looks like it will kick off September 13th with the same 10 teams from last year. Last year due to weather cancellations the number of games played by each team varied from 12 to 15. In 2025-26 each team is scheduled to play 17 matches. There will be a single round against the Pacific Pride and a double, home and away round, against the other 8 teams.