With Sunday’s game between Canada and Japan at BC Place we did some digging on previous matches between the two teams going back to 1932 and the first Canadian rugby tour to Japan.
The Terrace Northmen won the Saratoga Cup awarded to the top team in the summer league with representatives from the Okanagan, Kootenay and Interior regions. Terrace won both the men’s XVs title and the women’s 7s title.
Canada went ahead 26-6 at the half behind a dominant scrum. They pushed the lead to 38-9 after 60 minutes before the Highlanders kicked into gear for the final 20 minutes, scoring two tries for a final 38-23 scoreline.
The question of whether Canada would still host the 7s Series in 2025, now that the men’s team are no longer part of the core group, has been answered. Yes, Vancouver will be the 4th stop on the 2025 series.
The BCRU announced the date, October 11th, for the Hall of Fame event where the Class of 2024 will be inducted into the BC Rugby Hall of Fame.
Canada failed to make the 2023 World Cup, it was the first time in history the men’s XVs failed to qualify. The 2027 World Cup in Australia is expanded to 24 teams, so 4 more teams will qualify for the tournament.
Canada have named 35 players for their Pacific Nations Cup training squad. The first warm up match is against the Highlanders on Saturday, August 17th at the Capilano rugby club. Canada then face Japan and USA in the preliminary round of the PNC, before the playoff round starts in Japan.
A good initiative from Rugby Canada in organizing these East/West high performance camps and listing the U18 athletes attending. The only negative we’ve heard is the cost to attend, the amounts seem to vary and may depend where the athlete is coming from. They’ve assembled some good coaching teams including active players as assistant coaches.
The match summary is below and the links to the VEO videos, East and West cameras, are linked below as well.
The Bula Rugby 7s tournament will be a 2 day event, Friday August 16th and Saturday August 17th, at John Oliver Park in Delta, the home of the Brit Lions.