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The JWRT kicks off on Tuesday with Canada missing. It’s the first time ever Canada have missed two Trophy tournaments in a row. Is it time for Canada to make a statement of intent that they’re getting serious about the men’s U20 program and host the JWRT for once.
The regular season has wrapped up, the playoff picture is set but won’t start for a few weeks to allow for the international test window. The playoffs start on July 20th with New England hosting Old Glory, Houston hosting Dallas, New Orleans hosting Chicago and Seattle hosting San Diego.
It was everything the Highlanders would have wanted from their opening weekend, a double header win over Canada Selects (44-33) and Barbados (44-12). They reported the attendance at 1,023 and the YouTube stream shows 2,160 views, so you could say it reached over 3,000 people. It’s a positive start.
Last year we were looking at all the Canadian players competing in the Taranaki Premier in NZ, Callum Botchar, Izzak Kelly, Jacob Bossi and Noah Bain. This year it’s Western Australia. Also the MacDowell Rugby Academy are in Germany for the Heidelberg 7s this coming weekend.
There’s one week left in the regular season. The West playoff picture is clear, Houston will host Dallas and Seattle will host San Diego. In the East the top four playoff spots are known but the order can still be changed based on next weekend’s results, currently it would be New England hosting DC and NOLA hosting Chicago.
Coach Kingsley Jones has announced 34 players for the summer tests for Scotland and Romania, it’s a mixture of youth and experience but it’s possible a number of the players won’t get selected for either match day 23 as Jones has his favourites and has frequently named players who don’t make the match day lineups.
The Highlanders have walked back their plan to charge $40 plus fees ($46.39) for their opening games this Friday at Burnaby, (see previous article). They now are offering free admission, you can even “buy” online for $0 from their website.
The Canadian men will not be going to the Olympics, they lost to South Africa in the semi-finals 28-0 and then to Spain in the 3rd/4th place match 31-14. South Africa and Great Britain are playing in the final to determine the one Olympic qualifying spot. Canada did win their quarter-final match against Chile 24-19.
Phil Mack named his Canada Selects squad to take on the Vancouver Highlanders in their double header on June 28th. The other match will see Highlanders take on Barbados. It’s a fairly strong side with a good selection of Pacific Pride players, some who are playing for the Altantic Privateers during the Coast to Coast cup.