BC Rugby Weekend of September 12th 2026

BC Premier Week 1 Rosters and Predictions: Burnaby @ Westshore, UVic @ UBC, Bayside @ JBAA, Rowers @ CW, Capilano @ Meraloma

And we’re back, it’s Week 1 of the 2026-27 BC Premier. It’s a time to check out the rosters for the new season, although in the first week there will be gaps, the national team are in Japan and a few players may trickle back into the league by Week 3 or 4. Some overseas players may not have arrived, we’ll see. I want to thank our new Predictions & Rosters article sponsor, Bad Frog Print Shop & Promo Goods.

Westshore v Burnaby Lake @ Juan de Fuca @ 2:30

Burnaby just missed out on a playoff spot last season, it came down to the last match of the season. Westshore made it to the quarter-finals but lost to UVic.

Burnaby missing tighthead Bryce Worden who is with the national team in Japan. Josh Halladay who played at TWU is in the second row. Tom Gladwin a new name at blindside flanker, also Dan Flint at #10, some connection to Nottingham there I believe. Veteran Taitusi Vikilani at #8 and the ever dangerous Fijian Napolioni Bolaca sitting on the bench ready to make an impact.

Westshore missing Brian Ndirangu from last season but fellow Kenyan William Mwanji takes his spot. Also Kenyan Denis Abukase an addition on the outside, he played for Kenya in the 2024 Olympics. A couple of former Pacific Pride players in the backs, Jean-Louis Desgouttes at #10 and Thomas Cuzange at outside centre. Natsu Yokoyama is a new name at #9, possibly from Oz, Brothers rugby club. Kyle Tremblay in Japan with the national team, also missing Mark Balaski, Thomas Isherwood, Elias Hancock.

Westshore have a dangerous looking backline from 9 to 15. We’ll see how the forwards match up in Round 1. Napolioni Bolaca coming off the bench for Burnaby is a factor. We’ll go with the higher ranked team from last year to start the season. Prediction: Westshore by +5.

Burnaby Lake

1. Luka Bradley
2. Dylan Vermette
3. Iain Kennell-Webb
4. Leo Chen (C)
5. Josh Halladay
6. Tom Gladwin
7. Rylin McKenzie
8. Taitusi Vikilani
9. Flynn Smith
10. Dan Flint
11. Keith Graham
12. David Dinbandhu
13. Kyle Corrigan
14. Sione Fine
15. Nolan Shelley
16. Seth Klassen
17. Oliver Flack
18. Daniel Neal
19. Daniel Clement
20. Jonah Fridfinnson
21. Jentzen Peterson
22. Anthony Carroll
23. Napolioni Bolaca

Westshore

1 Kane Perrett – C
2 Porter Gook
3 Nathan Groenewold
4 Seth Recalma
5 Joe Kingham
6 William Mwanji
7 Josh Jukes
8 Taine Clague
9 Natsu Yokoyama
10 Jean-Louis Desgouttes
11 Nelson Oyoo
12 Rhys James
13 Thomas Cuzange
14 Denis Abukase
15 Johnstone Olindi
16 Neil Hagerty
17 Olk Gashi
18 Matt Evans
19 Matt Weir
20 Toby Higgins
21 Chris Rose
22 Josh Nordstrom
23 Drew Belbin

UBC v UVIC @ Gerald McGavin Centre @ 2:30

This is an important match for the University Championship qualification, BC only gets one spot this year since TWU are hosting and get an automatic berth. It’s the first time one of UBC or UVic won’t be in the tournament. Last year in the semi-finals, UVic upset UBC but that was with Cooper Coats running the show and Morgan di Nardo and David Richard on the wing.

UVic missing those top three players mentioned Coats (with the national team), and di Nardo and Richard, we’re not sure. Michael Oughtred the outstanding high school player from Oak Bay is in his second year and takes the reigns at #10. Brendan Kim at tighthead prop returns for another season, he must be on the national team radar. Adam Doane another player missing, he started making a name for himself with the national 7s squad.

UBC dominated TWU last weekend, 66-0, they looked impressive. They have a similar roster, the only change is with Liam Turnbull coming in to the centres. They’re missing Stephen Webb and Cody Nhanala who are with the national team in Japan.

UBC look strong and will be looking for some payback for getting knocked out of the playoffs last year. They’re at home, UVic missing three national level starters from their win last year, four if you include Josh McIndoe who was in the reserves in last year’s win. Prediction: UBC by +7.

UVic

1 Jack Marshall
2 Jeffery Young
3 Brendan Kim
4 Seb Isherwood
5 Alex Gordon
6 Jaxson Jones
7 Muiredach Casey
8 Ronin Smith
9 Reece Thompson
10 Michael Oughtred
11 Alex Gamage
12 Dylan Cleaver
13 Lockhart MacGregor
14 Spencer Cotie
15 Greg Leitch
16 Sully Curran
17 Kale Jones
18 Brendan Christian
19 Carter Ebrahim
20 Aiden de Wit
21 Lachlan Crooks
22 Jack Driscoll
23 Thoran Koyote

UBC

1 Jacob Blackwood
2 Ethan McCarthy
3 Charlie Clark
4 Alexander Muir
5 Joe McNulty c
6 Callum Arnesen
7 Maximillian Birtley
8 Liam Kinghorn
9 Ronan Graham
10 James Biss c
11 Lenny Bonduau
12 Liam Turnbull
13 Alastair Marshall c
14 Elijah Palov
15 Max McGavern
16 Joshua du Toit
17 Ethan Samuels
18 Kevin Griffiths
19 Viktor Wozniak
20 Sandon Gupta
21 Caleb Seumanutafa
22 William Barrett
23 Milo Knights

James Bay v Bayside Sharks @ MacDonald Park @ 2:30

The Bays surged in the last half of the season to make the semi-finals. Bayside are coming up from Division 1.

The Bays with a core of returning players, missing from their semi-final match last season are Brendyn Beck, Wyatt Pilz, Henry Kirwan. They have a strong bench, Tyler Matchem in the reserves, he was marked as unavailable/injured for the Canada tour to Japan. James Thiel and D’Shawn Bowen also part of the impact reserves. Josh Thiel at #12 and Kainoa Lloyd at #11 a couple of national level players returning to the starting XV.

This is the first Premier roster for Bayside in a while, they haven’t published anything on social media yet but PlayHQ lists an incomplete roster. Jess Mackail at hooker the immediately noticeable name, Caleb van Til formerly with TWU. Otherwise not a lot of recognizable names at the Premier level, we’ll revisit their roster when it’s fully available. Note, the roster has been updated and is complete, James Kelly at #6 played with Burnaby last season and can play flanker or hooker.

If the Bays continue on from where they finished last season, they’ll be in good form. They have the core from last season plus some national level players. Bayside remain an unknown at this point in the Premier. Prediction: Bays by +8.

JBAA

1 Scott Warner
2 Neil Trainor
3 Dakota Lachance
4 Harrison Archdekin
5 Jaiden John
6 Alex Jordan
7 Carter Haddow
8 Michael Nieuwenhuysen
9 Thomas Burton
10 Isaac Gonevou
11 Kainoa Lloyd
12 Josh Thiel
13 Mostyn Findlay
14 Craig Mitchell-Hermann
15 Ty Driscoll
16 Oscar Benoit
17 Omar El Gayed
18 Tyler Matchem
19 William Rennard
20 Austin Hutchcroft
21 Lane Bowker
22 James Thiel
23 D’Shawn Bowen

Bayside

1 Oluwafunbi Osuntoki
2 Jesse Mackail c
3 Wayne Lamositele
4 Spencer Thorpe
5 Giuseppe Castelli
6 James Kelly
7 Caleb van Til
8 Jason Hignell
9 Stuart Gormley vc
10 Jarrad Newey
11 Dominic Marshall
12 Oliver Francis
13 Ryan Jackson
14 Maximus Metcalfe
15 Baylyn Milner
16 Andy Ros
17 Manraj Randhawa
18 Tom Smith
19 Teddy Tooke
20 Oliver Murphy
21 Ryder Brookes
22 Sam Clayton
23 Sana Dawai

Castaway Wanderers v Vancouver Rowing Club @ Windsor Park @ 2:30

CW were bottom of the table in the BC Premier last season, the Rowers won Div 1. It should be an interesting contest.

We don’t know much about the Rowers roster since they were promoted this year but Jordan Wilson-Ross at fullback is a well known name, Canada level in his younger years. We got the roster off PlayHQ so there are gaps and we don’t how accurate it is but we’ll update when the Rowers publish their roster online. We know Jack Ussher at #10 is from Ireland and was with them last season. Update, we’ve filled in some of the names, an important addition is Relmu Wilson-Valdes at #8, he was the standout #8 for UBC these last few years.

CW have veteran John Braddock back in the roster at loosehead prop, Mike Finnemore another veteran anchors the second row. Florentin Hafner is new, likely from Europe. Charlie Kirkwood at #8 also new to the BC Premier. Josh Rose at #10 is from NZ but with BC connections, his younger brother Chris plays scrum half for Westshore, Chris also played with the Pride and UVic. Charlie Duncombe at fullback also new to the BC Premier.

As mentioned already, an interesting matchup, Div 1 champ vs Premier 10th place, CW with some new players, a new coach. Tough one to call but I’ll give the nod to CW at home, we’ll get a good idea of the Rowers playing level after this match. Prediction: CW by +3.

CW

1 John Braddock
2 Theo Espagnol
3 Zack Hahn
4 Nat Dring
5 Mike Finnemore
6 Florentin Hafner
7 John Wallace c
8 Charlie Kirkwood
9 Zech Pilgrim
10 Josh Rose
11 Shane Rikley-Krindle
12 Liam Poulton
13 Glenn Roy
14 Ethan Hager
15 Charlie Duncombe
16 George Brown
17 Alex McCallum
18 Pearce Reimer
19 Hugh Mager
20 Sawyer Herron
21 Henry Williamson
22 Jacob Isaac
23 Ciran Woods

Rowers

1 William Litchfield
2 Chris Cairns
3 Conor Kelly
4 Sven Ewans
5 James Whelan
6 Benjamin Madge
7 Chase Cooke
8 Relmu Wilson-Valdes
9 Dominic Howard
10 Jack Usher
11 Brady Lauretti
12 Hayden Jones
13 Sam Stoddard
14 Martel Wolfenden
15 Jordan Wilson Ross
16 Gregory Crowe
17 Ian Prendiville
18 Kyle Katerenchuk
19 Ben Caulfield
20 Morgan Brinson
21 Coleman Braid
22 Spencer Morgan
23 Rocco Waite-Fazio

Meraloma v Capilano @ Connaught Park @ 2:30

Capilano made it to the quarter-finals last season, Meraloma didn’t make the playoffs.

The Lomas with some familiar names returning from last season, McMeel, Quinn, Trimble, Tagg, Tipene, Thompson,  Readman, Booker. Some new names as well, Josiah Ashworth was a Canada U20 player last season, originally from the UK. Ronan Coffey, lock, also Eoin Dorgan on the wing both possibly from Ireland. Alijah Khan promoted from the Div 1 side. Like most Premier sides the core from last season with some import additions.

Capilano the only team with no roster on social media or PlayHQ at the time of writing, doesn’t look a promising way to start the season. We’ve posted their roster from last season quarter-finals and we’ll update when it’s available. The Capilano roster finally came in, apparently a change at coach as well, Neil Courtney has stepped back and Curry Hitchborn is the head coach now. Looking at the new roster, a lot of changes Johnny Franklin, Jacob Bossi and Arthur Greene aren’t in the roster. Demetri Patterson has come over from UBC. Tyler Wong, who we haven’t seen in a while after MLR,  is back. Austin James has moved from wing to openside flanker. Veteran Chris Robinson is back at starting scrum half.

It’s difficult to make a prediction with one of the rosters missing. Will key Capilano players be back, Jacob Bossi, Johnny Franklin, Arthur Greene. Do they have new imports? Will the new Meraloma imports lift their game from last season? Just based on last season’s form, the Caps go in as favourites. Prediction: Caps by +1.

Meraloma

1. Andy McMeel
2. Jordan Quinn
3. Josiah Ashworth
4. Craig Trimble
5. Ronan Coffey
6. Alex Tagg
7. Andy Readman
8. Alijah Khan
9. Ethan Chambers
10. Anzac Tipene
11. Carlos Thompson
12. Nathan Booker
13. Aaron Leahy
14. Eoin Dorgan
15. Mitchell Stokes
16. Joseph Mergens
17. Steven Tien
18. Rhys Tucker
19. Tane Purcell
20. Eoin Buckley
21. Polynesia Crichton
22. Corne Ludick
23. Jacob Walmsley

Capilano (April 25th/current)

1  Riley Canning / Felix Nellen
2 Jacob Bossi / Nick Bews
3 Caleb Hickey
4 Ryan Hickey / Andrew Crane
5 Arthur Greene / Conrad Mitchell
6 Flynn Heyes / Hamish McDonald
7 Hamish McDonald / Austin James
8 Teancum Tuiali / Ben Taylor
9 Toby Horn / Chris Robinson
10 Wade Jansen / Tom Morris
11 Austin James / Oliver Mackenzie
12 Bruce Jones / Caleb Kingi
13 Johnny Franklin / Harrison Mason
14 Seamus O’Sullivan / Demetri Patterson
15 Caleb Kingi / Wade Jansen
16 Nate Bolton / Lucas Couilloud
17 Pat Zuk
18 Josh Leeks / Aiden Bertuzzi
19 Andrew Crane / Teancum Tuiali
20 Reid Brookes / Tyler Wong
21 Ben Welsh / Ryder Kanewski
22 Ryan Leskiw / Seamus O’Sullivan
23 TBD