The Club Age-Grade or Youth season starts September 29th. There are seven weeks of regular season play, 2 weeks of regional playoffs and the final is December 8th at Starlight Stadium in Langford. The finals in December will pit the top U16 and U18 teams in the Province against each other in both the boys and girls divisions. The U14 competition is regional only.
Rugby Canada made a strange post on Instagram today that seemed out of character and out of date. It referenced an October 2023 World Rugby Council decision, that came into effect on August 1 2024, and it’s now September 17th. There was no corresponding World Rugby announcement except the one in August. The Rugby Canada article is posted below.
The Canada men’s XVs team get two more test matches this year with Romania hosting. First up on November 9th Canada will play Chile, then on November 16th they’ll face the hosts, Romania. The three teams are consecutively ranked from 20th to 22nd in the world.
After Round 2 of the Coastal Cup UBC and the Pacific Pride share top spot with a head to head encounter next week. TWU earned a bonus point in their loss to the Pride this week scoring 38 points, UVic scored 33 and also earned a bonus point in their loss to UBC.
This was definitely a winnable game for Canada, one feels that with some tweaks and a new head coach, Canada could win the 2025 rematch when it matters. The thought of brothers Kaden and Tyler Duguid in the second row and brothers Takoda and Talon in the centres, mixed with some Canadian pride and motivation in the form of a Canadian head coach, would be the formula for a nudge forward.
World Rugby make available an analysis of the PNC matches for media and there’s some interesting stats to go through. We’ve listed some of them below. Canada lost both matches against Tonga in 2023 and only managed 7.5 points per match on average in those two games, their average in the PNC in the two matches they’ve played against Japan and USA is 21.5, so there’s sign of an improved attack. They’ve also given up an average of 41.5 points per match in this year’s PNC, so need to stiffen their defence.
The Dog River Howlers, an invitational rugby club, based out of Saskatchewan will be representing Canada at the Gran Jaguar Rugby 7s tournament in Antigua, Guatemala. The tournament includes national teams from across Central America as well as touring teams from Canada and USA. The tournament takes place on October 18th and 19th. It’s the second consecutive year the Howlers have attended the tournament.
The Canadian Ambassadors is a new rugby inititative, started by players, for players. The goal is to provide club players from across the country with the opportunity to go on tour and play against developing nations. The program follows a similar concept that New Zealand has been running with the Czech Republic for the past fifteen years. Over that time the Czech Republic has risen significantly through the IRB rankings (currently #34). The inaugural tour is set for Cancun, Mexico from October 9-15th, to play Mexico National XV. Mexico are ranked #43 in Mens IRB Rankings, behind Czech Republic (34) and Canada (22), but ahead of Barbados (72) who the Highlanders played during the summer.
The Coastal Cup kicked off this weekend with two matches. The BC Premier starts in two weeks. The Dunbar Keg men’s U20 and CanWest women’s university competition also have matches this weekend. Goods news for BC rugby fans is that both Coastal Cup games are available online, details below.
UBC kick off their season against TWU on Saturday and we’ll look at their roster for the upcoming season. Last year in the Coastal Cup UBC had a slow start, finishing 3rd behind the Pacific Pride and UVic. They defeated TWU twice but lost to UVic and the Pride for a 2-3 record. They quickly improved and ended up winning the national University championship defeating rivals UVic.