Island Blue v Mainland Gold Series for Senior Women’s XVs Starts May 24th – ID Sessions Start May 10th
The women’s Island Blue vs Mainland Gold series starts later this month with the ID sessions starting May 10th. The national team coach, Kevin Rouet, stated “the BC Blue vs Gold Series is the best standard of Rugby we can provide to senior female athletes in BC. These games are an important part of the pathway for athletes to access the Canadian National Senior Women’s program or Canada Select team. I am very excited to see athletes playing in a multi-game format and showing consistency in performance in these high-standard games.”
A regional best on best series with the national coach’s blessing, no wonder the Canadian women’s program is doing so well. The question is, “where is the men’s equivalent”? First you would need the national coach to take an interest, last I looked Steve Meehan was focused on his former job in Australia, this was a post from April on Linkedin, “Last Wednesday and Thursday were my final days with the students (a great group of people) from the Brisbane Lions and Brisbane Bullets Institute of Business and Sports.” It’s not as if the former coach, Kingsley Jones, cared about supporting a best v best regional competition either. Their job now is just watching MLR replays, it can be done from anywhere. You know if Jamie Cudmore had been selected as head coach there would be collaboration with the BCRU to create a regional best v best series. He wasn’t and this is where we are now.
I’m looking forward to watching the women’s Island v Mainland series, and I hope, really hope, the organizers put on a decent live stream with commentary, not the VEO Ai traffic cam system without commentary that seems to be the live stream solution at the present. The players deserve the recognition, not to mention snippets they can use for their highlight reels to promote their rugby careers, the supporting rugby community deserves it, the national coach I’m sure would appreciate it and it will help promote the series and rugby in BC. It’s a win-win-win proposition.
from BC Rugby
BC Rugby is delighted to announce the return of the BC Senior Women’s Blue vs. Gold Series ahead of the 2025 Women’s Rugby World Cup later this year.
Working collaboratively with Rugby Canada’s Senior Women’s National Team Programming, BC Rugby is hosting a three-match Blue vs. Gold Series throughout May and June to showcase and prepare athletes with the 2025 Women’s Rugby World Cup taking place in England later this year.
The Series will see selected sides of the Island Blues and Mainland Golds battle it out across three games in Vancouver and Victoria. The Mainland Golds won the final tie-breaking match in 2024 to earn bragging rights and, as a result, will host two of the three matches in the 2025 Series.
Demi Stamatakis (Capilano RFC) will lead the Mainland Gold team assisted by Matt Fraser (UBC), with Brittany Waters (UVIC Vikes) returning to lead the Island Blues alongside Assistant Coach Oliver Winser (VIRU Tide).
There will be a series of ID & Training Sessions for athletes ahead of Game 1. Athletes must register for ID Sessions – click here to register or on the button below. ID Sessions cost $20 with costs helping to offset field and therapist hire. Athletes do not have to be from British Columbia to participate in the Series.
Matches will take place on the following dates:
Game 1: May 24, 2025 – Vancouver – 1pm-3pm Simon Fraser University (Field 2)
Game 2: May 31, 2025 – Victoria – 1pm-3pm – Wallace Field, UVIC
Game 3: June 7, 2025 – Vancouver – 1pm-3pm Simon Fraser University (Field 2)
BC Rugby will endeavour to livestream all matches. If we are unable to livestream matches, we will record the matches and release them on the BC Rugby YouTube Channel.
“The BC Blue vs Gold Series is the best standard of Rugby we can provide to senior female athletes in BC. These games are an important part of the pathway for athletes to access the Canadian National Senior Women’s program or Canada Select team. I am very excited to see athletes playing in a multi-game format and showing consistency in performance in these high-standard games.” Rugby Canada Senior Women’s XVs National Team Head Coach Kevin Rouet
“I’m thrilled to be involved in the BC Blue vs. Gold series taking place this May-June. With the 2025 Women’s Rugby World Cup preparation in full swing, the Series promises to be an intense and highly-anticipated competition that you won’t want to miss! Get ready to witness the best Rugby athletes in BC come out to compete for the honour of provincial and regional representation, as well as contest for opportunities to represent their national team. What a fantastic opportunity to support the development of high-performance Rugby in BC.” Mainland Golds Head Coach Demi Stamatakis
“We are excited to get the BC Blue vs. Gold series up and running again this spring. This is a great opportunity for our top BC senior athletes to showcase their skills and play high level Rugby. The upcoming Women’s Rugby World Cup makes this a big year for women’s rugby, and many of the athletes involved will be looking to put their hand up for opportunities to play for the Canadian National Team.” Island Blues Head Coach Brittany Waters
KEY DATES: BLUE VS GOLD SERIES
The Island Blue vs. Mainland Gold Series Schedule is as follows:
ISLAND BLUES SCHEDULE
May 10: Island Blues ID Session – 10am-1pm – Wallace Field, UVIC
May 17: Training Session – 10am-3pm – Wallace Field, UVIC
May 20: Training Session – 6pm-7:30pm -Wallace Field, UVIC
May 22: Training Session – 6pm-7:30pm – Wallace Field, UVIC
May 24: Game 1 – 1pm-3pm – Simon Fraser University (Field 2)
May 27: Training Session – 6pm-7:30pm – Wallace Field, UVIC
May 29: Training Session – 6pm-7:30pm – Wallace Field, UVIC
May 31: Game 2 – 1pm-3pm – Wallace Field, UVIC
June 3: Training Session – 6pm-7:30pm – Wallace Field, UVIC
June 5: Training Session – 6pm-7:30pm – Wallace Field, UVIC
June 7: Game 3 – 1pm-3pm – Simon Fraser University (Field 2)
MAINLAND GOLDS SCHEDULE
May 10: Mainland Golds ID Session – 10am-1pm – John Oliver Park, Delta
May 17: Mainland Golds ID Session – 10am-1pm – John Oliver Park, Delta
May 20: Training – 6:30pm-8:30pm – Simon Fraser University (Field 2)
May 22: Training – 6:30pm-8:30pm – Simon Fraser University (Field 2)
May 24: Game 1 – 1pm-3pm – Simon Fraser University (Field 2)
May 27: Training – 6:30pm-8:30pm – Simon Fraser University (Field 2)
May 28: Training – 6:30pm-8:30pm – Simon Fraser University (Field 2)
May 31: Game 2 – 1pm-3pm – Wallace Field, UVIC
June 3: Training – 6:30pm-8:30pm – Simon Fraser University (Field 2)
June 5: Training – 6:30pm-8:30pm – Simon Fraser University (Field 2)
June 7: Game 3 – 1pm-3pm – Simon Fraser University (Field 2)