Author Archive: MarkB

CanWest Rugby 2025

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UVic Claim Canada West Conference Title; Carissa Norsten Named Player of the Year; UVic Coach Brittany Waters Named Coach of the Year

UVic claimed the Canada West title with another narrow victory over UBC. UBC are current U SPORTS title holders and are hosting the U SPORTS rugby championship which starts later this month.  UVic defeated UBC with a come from behind win, trailing by 6 points with 10 minutes remaining, they scored a try at the 74′ mark and made the important conversion to claim the Western title. The match report from CanWest is posted below.

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World Cup 2027 Repechage Tournament

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World Cup 2027 Repechage Tournament Schedule Announced: Samoa, Paraguay, Namibia, Belgium

It’s a relief from a Canadian perspective to announce the repechage tournament knowing Canada has already qualified for the 2027 World Cup. Canada didn’t even make the repechage tournament for the 2023 World Cup, and they had to win the repechage to make the 2019 World Cup. In that 2019 repechage tournament Canada defeated Germany, Hong Kong and Kenya to advance to the World Cup. This year Canada defeated USA to claim direct entry to the World Cup.

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BC Rugby Weekend of October 18th 2025

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BC Premier Week 4 Results: Bays Drop CW, Ravens Soar Past Lomas, UBC Demolish Westshore, Caps Top Burnaby – University Qualifier UVic Edge TWU – Week 2 Women’s Premier Westshore Defeat Abby, UBC Outlast Seattle

Some surprising scorelines on a cold, rainy weekend on the west coast. UBC look to be the on form team and sit top of the standings, the Ravens have started to find their form with some key player additions, Bays playing solid rugby and the Caps with the upset of the weekend.

It’s Week 4 of the men’s BC Premier and Week 2 of the women’s Premier. UBC sit top of the standings with a 3-1 record, they’ve played one more game than the rest of the league as they fit their home and away games against the Vikes in early as part of the University Qualification series. Westshore are the only team at 3-0 and those two teams meet to determine top spot. Burnaby are close behind with a 2-1-0 record having tied UBC in their first match.

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Rugby Americas North – RAN 7s 2025

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Rugby Americas North – RAN 7s Announced for November 21-23 in Arima, Trinidad – Canadian Men Need Win to Advance to Division 3

The Rugby Americas North (RAN) 7s tournament returns to Trinidad for 2025. The tournament is part of the pathway the Canadian men must follow to get back on the World Rugby 7s Series. The tournament takes place November 21-23 in Arima, Trinidad. Canada is one of 8 countries vying to progress from the tournament to the next stage, Division 3. The winner of RAN 7s will progress to the 8 team Division 3 competition, and two teams from that tournament will progress to Division 2. The details of the Division 3 tournament haven’t been released yet.

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Pacific Pride OG – 1996-2005

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A Look Back at the Original Pacific Pride Program 1996-2005: 2017 Interview with John MacMillan, List of Players 1996-2003, Rivalry vs NZ Youth

This article began with research into the competition between the NZ Youth team and the Pacific Pride. I remember attending some of the matches at Centennial Stadium but it was before BCRN started publishing in 2004 so I don’t have any articles in the database. I thought wouldn’t it be great to revive that rivalry and give the Pride, aka Young Canada, aka the Rugby Canada Academy, a high level competition to highlight their season.

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Rugby Canada Updates – October 2025

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Rugby Canada Announce Community Grants: 38 Grants for Coaching in Schools – Deadline for Application November 7th

Rugby Canada has received some federal government money for Community Sport and they’re distributing it through several programs, the first is the Coaching in Schools initiative. They’ve committed to awarding 38 grants ranging from $1000 to $4500 for Coaching in Schools. The application form is here.

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MacDowell Rugby Updates – October 2025

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MacDowell Rugby Holding Tour Talent ID Session At UVic on Friday, October 17th: November Mexico Tour, December NZ Tour

MacDowell Rugby is holding a talent ID session for two international tours to end the 2025 season. The ID session is this Friday at UVic’s Wallace Field, details and a registration link are below.

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MLR Updates – October 2025

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Major League Rugby Announces Focus on USA Rugby Qualified Players: What That Means for Canadian Rugby

There was a bit of hand wringing by Canadian rugby fans and pundits last week when Major League Rugby announced that they “will take steps from the 2026 season to increase the game day spaces available to USA Rugby qualified and pathway players to a minimum of 16 and rising from there”. It appears Canadian players will have to compete as imports for one of the 7 non-USA roster spots in 2026, and that number may decrease in future years.

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BC Rugby Weekend of October 11th 2025

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University Qualifier UBC Defeat TWU, Exhibition Match Valley Venom Crushed by Pacific Pride, Oakville Crusaders Junior Program on Island for Matches v Ravens and CW Taste Victory

UBC confirmed their #1 ranking as they go 4-0 in the BC University qualifying series, TWU need a massive win next weekend against UVic to qualify for the nationals. Pacific Pride dominate in the Valley with a lopsided win. The Oakville Crusaders Junior program took a double from the Ravens on Friday and Ravens edged CW on Saturday.

There are no Premier games this Thanksgiving Weekend but there are two Premier level matches taking place this weekend plus the Oakville Crusaders Junior Program are on the Island for matches with the Ravens and CW.

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Regional Rugby Updates – October 2025

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BCRU Revives Ruth Hellerud-Brown Regional Competition – Where’s the McKechnie Cup?

The BCRU has revived the regional competition for women this year, the Ruth Hellerud-Brown Cup. It will replace the Blue-Gold Series that was held in the spring. The RHB Cup will be an in-season competition unlike the Blue-Gold Series which took place out of season in May/June. The competition will run over four weekends from November to March during bye and make-up weekends, Nov 8th, Dec 6th, Feb 14th, March 14th. It raises questions about the status of the men’s regional competition, the McKechnie Cup.

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