BC Rugby Hosts Two Match Series to Identify Top BC Talent for Rugby Canada
It’s good to see the Provincial and National bodies co-operating to ID talent for the national teams. It should be standard practice but as no surprise it’s part of the women’s national team pathway but not so much in the men’s pathway.
The women’s program has a history of using domestic coaching talent and structures to develop its program. When Francois Ratier was head coach and led the Canada team to a Silver medal at the World Cup, he used the women’s BC leagues to develop players in the winter. We still see players like Tyson Beukeboom playing Div 1 rugby for Cowichan in the winter leagues and then being standouts in the World Cup. New coach Kevin Rouet seems to be continuing the practice. A couple of weeks ago we saw Sara Kaljuvee play #10 for Westshore with Justine Blatt-Janmaat playing #9, as they crushed Seattle. Kevin Rouet was there watching as well, both have been named to the Canada tour to Spain. Will we see a Blatt-Janmaat / Kaljuvee halfback connection sometime during the tour, we hope so.
It would be like the men’s program putting Grady Bowd at #10 at CW and pairing him with a Brock Webster at halfback and seeing how they perform. Thomas Isherwood played #10 for Westshore, did the national coach think of pairing him with someone like Alex Russell at #9 to see how the combination worked? I’m not sure if Kingsley Jones even watched Thomas Isherwood play #10. The solution was send Grady Bowd to the MLR to sit on the bench for two matches and watch from the sidelines for three matches so far this season. That’s one of the many differences between the men’s and women’s national pathways and the attitudes of coaches and selectors.
It’s easy to support the women’s XVs program, they win a lot and they embrace Canadian solutions. Make sure you attend one of these games and support the local BC talent trying to break into the national team.
from BC Rugby
Under the direction of Rugby Canadas Senior Womens Programming, BC Rugby is hosting a two-match Blue vs. Gold series in May for Senior/U20 Women athletes in contention for National Team selection this summer.
Registration is now open for BC Rugby athletes interested in participating in these Senior Womens Pathway matches.
The two-match Series will see selected sides of the Island Blues and Mainland Golds battle in both Victoria and North Vancouver.
These matches will be used to prepare and showcase female athletes for selection to the Senior Womens National Team ahead of Junes PAC4 Series, and U20 selection ahead of this summers U20 Tests being held in Eastern Canada.
Dean Murten (UBC Thunderbirds and Canada U20 Womens Head Coach) will lead the Mainland Gold team, with Albert Michau (Castaway Wanderers Senior Women Coach) heading the Island Blue team.
There will be a series of training sessions held for both Blue and Gold teams, while games will take place on May 20 (Victoria) and May 27 (Capilano Rugby Club).
Rugby Canada has directed BC Rugby to hold regional matches to prepare and showcase our best Senior and U20 players that hope to be considered for this Junes PAC4 series and U20 Tests which are being hosted in the East. BC athletes will be able to use these matches to help establish their playing form and maintain match conditioning, while testing themselves against the very best BC Rugby players. BC Rugby Technical Director John Tait
Registration costs $30 athletes should click on the link below to complete registration.
ISLAND BLUE VS. MAINLAND GOLD SCHEDULE
The Island Blue vs. Mainland Gold Series Schedule is as follows:
ISLAND BLUE
May 2: Training at UVIC 6:30pm-8:00pm
May 4: Training at UVIC 6:30pm-8:00pm
May 10: Training at UVIC 6:30pm-8:30pm
May 14: Training at UVIC 11:00am-3:00pm
May 18: Training at UVIC 6:30pm-8:00pm
May 20: Game 1 at UVIC Wallace Field 1:00pm
May 23: Training at UVIC 6:30pm-8:00pm
May 27: Game 2 at Capilano Rugby Club 1:00pm
MAINLAND GOLD
May 2: Training (location TBC) 6:30pm-8:00pm
May 4: Training (location TBC) 6:30pm-8:00pm
May 10: Training at Capilano Rugby Club 6:30pm-8:30pm
May 14: Training at Capilano Rugby Club 11:00am-3:00pm
May 19: Training at UBC 6:30pm-8:30pm
May 20: Game 1 at UVIC Wallace Field 1:00pm
May 24: Training at UBC 6:30pm-8:30pm
May 27: Game 2 at Capilano Rugby Club 1:00pm