Author Archive: BCRN

London 7s 2023 – Relegation Tournament

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Heroic Effort by Men’s 7s Team in London Earns Core Team Status Next Season: Match Videos

It was a heroic effort by Canada on Day 2 as they dug deep and made a nation proud. They needed to put a large score on Tonga to ensure they would make the final on points differential and that’s exactly what they did with a +36 defeat of Tonga. Now they were in the final even if Uruguay defeated Kenya, which they did. It would put Kenya and Canada in the final and Kenya had won the pool round encounter. It was a tense match, tied 7-7 at the half, Canada kept their nerve and found the overlap with seconds left on the clock. Brock Webster had done well to move the ball down the pitch with a couple of line breaks, Phil Berna and Alex Russell had a 2 on 1 inside the Kenya 22 and Berna delivered the perfect pass for Russell to beat the cross cover. Webster put the ensuing kickoff deep and Canada were able jackal the ball for the win.

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BC High School Rugby – May 2023

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High School Provincials May 31-June 3rd: Island Semi-Final Results; Island Finals May 25th @ UVic

Since BC School Sports took over rugby from the independent BCSSRU results have been difficult to find. Thanks to the organizers of the Island Boys competition we have some results to provide and a schedule for the Island Boys HS final.

The Provincials will be held May 31st to June 2nd in Abbotsford.

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Middle School Rugby – May 2023

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Lower Island Middle School Girls Rugby Official Sport for First Year: Year End Tournament Results

by Lisa Cooper

2023 is the first year that girls rugby is an official LIMSSA (Lower Island Middle School Sports Association) sport and the season ending tournament played Monday May 15th, was very successful.

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MLR 2023 – Week 13

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MLR Week 13 Wrapup: 42 Canadians in Action, 27 Starters, 15 Reserves; San Diego Leads West, New England Tops East

Week 13 saw the largest number of Canadians participating, mostly due to the Toronto Arrows starting 13 Canadian players, a season high for them.

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BC Regional Women – May 2023

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BC Women’s Island Blue vs Mainland Gold Match on Saturday at UVic: Rosters Announced

from BCRU

Squads have been confirmed for what will be an exciting Game 1 of the BC Rugby Senior Women’s Blue vs. Gold Series this Saturday, May 20!

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Elementary School Rugby – May 2023

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The 49th Annual Victoria Mini Rugby Tournament – Article and Photo Gallery by Lisa Cooper

[ed. photo gallery can be viewed here.]
by Lisa Cooper

On Friday, May 12th, thirty-two teams from sixteen elementary schools descended onto the dandelion covered fields of Gordon Head Middle School, for the 49th annual Victoria Mini Rugby Tournament.

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A Player’s Perspective: Canada to NZ – Part 1

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From Canada to New Zealand: Playing Rugby Abroad in Taranaki Part 1

[ed. Noah will send updates every 2 weeks so check back to read the complete series.]

by Noah Bain

Hello to whomever is reading this. Thanks for tuning in to BC Rugby News and thanks to Mark for reaching out.

As a short introduction, my name is Noah Bain and I am from Abbotsford, British Columbia. After graduating from the University of Victoria last year and finishing 2nd place at the CUMRC’s (Canadian University Championships), I was lucky to be involved with the Men’s 7’s program for a short stint. Following this, I moved to Vancouver to progress my career and joined the UBCOB Ravens Rugby Club (fitting as a UVic Alumnus, I know). During this past season, I was contacted by Sean White, Interim Head Coach of Canada 7’s, who introduced me to the wonderful David Jackson (Jacko), who resides on the East Coast in Halifax. Jacko is from New Zealand and presented me with the opportunity to join a Premier side in New Plymouth, Taranaki.

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High Performance – May 2023

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Rugby Canada Announce Stephen Aboud as Director of High Performance

We had covered this in a May 3rd article but Rugby Canada made their official announcement today. If you want to get some insights into his work with Italy, listen to the Irish podcast embedded below. It was recorded February 2023 and has some candid views on his recent work in Italy. Based on that I’m anticipating he’ll be putting a significant amount of emphasis on the 17-19 age group in his development plans. It will be interesting to follow his progress and see if he can create successful high performance development structures in Canada.

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Women’s Rugby Program Updates – May 2023

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Accelerate Fund for Women’s Age Grade Programs; Women’s U20 Selection Camp June 2-6 at UBC; BC Gold v BC Blue This Weekend at UVic

This is the first year the U20 women’s teams are launching after COVID. They are on a fully pay to play model which has the potential to keep some players out of the pathway at this critical time in their development. That is where the newly started Accelerate Fund has stepped up to help. The fund currently is set up as an annuity looking to raise 2 million by 2025, all the money to go towards supporting Women’s Age Grade Rugby. All funds will be matched up to $500K. There is an upcoming national U20 selection camp at UBC, it is the first time there will be a national age grade XVs assembly for women since 2019.

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