Pacific Pride vs Atlantic Privateers Preview and Prediction
The BC rugby competitions are shut down for Family Day weekend but there is one Premier level match tomorrow with the Atlantic Privateers flying in for a match against the Pacific Pride.
The Privateers are doing good work on the east coast trying to get as many high level matches as possible and they’re starting their season early with a trip to the west coast.
There are a number of Atlantic players who are on the current Pacific Pride roster, Justin Tasse, Nate Cameron, Evan Logan, Jamin Hodgkins, they’ll be suiting up for the Privateers on Saturday. Hodgkins has signed with the Manly Marlins in Sydney, Australia so this likely is his last match in Victoria for a while.
There are a few Privateers who play for other Premier sides, Joe Locke from the Ravens, Merlin M’Cloud from UVic, Ethan McCarthy UBC, Nehemiah O’Neil for JBAA, Kyle Corrigan Burnaby, Nate Gallant and Keith Graham of the Lomas. Austin Creighton started with the Bays this season after several seasons with the Pride, he may be the only Canada capped XVs player in the match. Brandon Power at scrum half played for the Capilano in the 2023-24 season. Jack McCarthy played for the Bays in the 2023-24 season, he’s also capped for Canada in 7s. A few players have Dalhousie University roots Parker Bates the tighthead prop, Nigel Bannister second row, Luke Van Dam outside centre, Dylan Hickey second row and Jimmy Clarke the flyhalf (also Swilers Club, NFLD). Luke Van Dam is also the Bud Light rep on campus and rugby club president, interesting trivia on him, good man to know.
The Atlantic Privateers local club affiliations are listed below in their extended squad tour poster. The Pacific Pride now have a YouTube channel and this is the link for Saturday’s live stream.
Pacific Pride v Atlantic Privateers @ 16:30
Referee: Shanda Assmus AR1: Justine Blatt-Janmaat AR2: Juan Pablo Rey
Venue: Westhills Stadium
The Pride won their last match in strong style against Trinity Western University, they haven’t yet won a Premier match however and were heavily outscored by the last touring team from Chicago.
The Privateers are a bit of an unknown at the beginning of their season but they have some quality players we do know about who are in mid-season form in BC. Joe Locke at #8 for the top team in the Premier, UBCOB Ravens, he is a player who deserves a closer look by national team scouts. Austin Creighton already a known factor at the national level. Merlin M’Cloud well regarded in the BC Premier. They have a solid front row and a strong set of loose forwards. We haven’t seen the Pride roster yet but just based on last week’s roster we might lean towards the visitors in those two areas.
In the backs the back three of Hodgkins, McCarthy, Graham are a proven quantity. Hodgkins will have something to prove before leaving the Pride and what better way than winning his last match as the opposition. I’ll give the nod to the visitors here as well. That leaves the halfbacks, centres and second row. The Pride have a strong set of young scrum halves with Luke Prest and Chris Rose, we don’t know the Atlantic halfback pairing, Jimmy Clarke did win second team honours at the University championships last year so it will be an interesting matchup. Hodgkins played #10 for most of the season for the Pride and we haven’t seen too much of Jean-Louis Desgouttes who started last week. In the second row, not much known about the players, Jaiden John has impressed at times for the Pride, another matchup to watch.
Overall the visitors seem to have a stronger roster in key areas, front row, loose forwards and back three. We’re undecided about the second row, centre and halfback match ups. Another factor is depth and the bench, we’ll see how that plays out in the postgame recap. The visitors get extra points for getting their roster out, showing better organization. The Pride are missing their head coach who is in Nairobi with the national 7s team, we don’t know who is running the side in his absence. We’ll update the Pride roster when it’s available [now updated]. Prediction: Privateers, by +8.
Atlantic Privateers
1 Justin Tasse
2 Austin Creighton
3 Parker Bates
4 Nate Cameron
5 Nigel Bannister
6 Merlin M’Cloud
7 Evan Logan
8 Joe Locke
9 Brandon Power
10 Jimmy Clarke
11 Jack McCarthy
12 JS Cook
13 Luke Van Dam
14 Keith Graham
15 Jamin Hodgkins – Capt
16 Ethan McCarthy
17 Evan Martin
18 Anderson Recker
19 Dylan Hickey
20 Keagan Dalton
21 Owen Wright
22 Nate Gallant
23 Kyle Corrigan
24 Ryder Kanewske
25 Nehemiah O’Neil
Pacific Pride (Feb 7th/current)
1 Rudy Osborne
2 Theo Espagnol / Jordy Auger
3 Simroy John / Theo Espagnol
4 Jacques Bonsant / Jaiden John
5 Mason McDonald
6 Taine Clague
7 Evan Logan / Noah Kynaston
8 Jack Part
9 Rogan Moir / Chris Rose
10 Jean-Louis Desgouttes
11 Hudson Poppitt / Ian Jones
12 Hudson Young / Andrew Cooper
13 Andrew Cooper / Glenn Roy
14 Jute Norlin / Henry Kirwan
15 Alan Berros
16 Porter Gook
17 Matteo Quinonez / Omar El-Gayed
18 Eric Rutledge
19 Jaiden John / Jacques Bonsant
20 Noah Kyneston / De Wet van Rooyen
21 Chris Rose / Rogan Moir
22 Luke Prest / Noah Hudson
23 Ian Jones / Luke Prest
Atlantic Privateers
