Canadian University Men's Rugby Championship 2024

UBC, ETS, Queen’s, Guelph Advance to Semi-Finals at Canadian University Men’s Rugby Championship

There were two upsets on Day 1 of the University Championships based on the rankings, first #5 ETS defeated #4 Memorial and then #6 Queen’s edged #3 UVic. The other two games went according to script with #1 UBC rocking #8 UBC Okanagan and then #2 Guelph defeating host #7 Ottawa.

Some thoughts from watching Day 1 action. ETS were the surprise team of Day 1, not much was known about them from a national perspective but they quickly put themselves on the radar with a commanding 24-7 win over Memorial who have a reputation for punching above their weight at the nationals. ETS player of the match was the openside, Brahim Mahmoudi, a software engineering student from the Lyon area of France. His rugby IQ was on display as he scored ETS’ first try by simply anticipating a rote clearing pass, intercepting it on the goal line and dropping down for the try. He also set up their second try with an evasive run and offload. Impressive player and one to watch. Their coach, Jean-Baptiste Dargelos, is also from France but has been in charge of the ETS program for almost 10 years, he deserves some credit for how well the team were prepared and organized in both defence and attack. Before coming to Quebec in 2014, he was in the Aquitaine area of France and involved with Bayonne rugby.

The 104-0 win by UBC doesn’t really merit extra commentary but I realized UBC are missing two starting backs, James Biss, their usual #10 isn’t in the roster, assuming due to injury, and similarly Takoda McMullin is not in the travelling roster, due to injury. Jacob Bourne stepped into the starting #10 role and Max McGavern has stepped into the #15 role. They’ll face ETS in the semis.

The Queen’s win over UVic was back and forth all game, separated by 2 at the end, 26-24. It ended in bizarre fashion, UVic needing a penalty kick to win, time expired, going through multiple phases inside the Queen’s half. The normal thinking is you keep bashing ahead and probe the defence until you win a penalty. Inexplicably, after multiple phases inside Queen’s half, they decided to kick it long, Queen’s said “thank you” and kicked it out to end the match!

Guelph showed why they’re ranked #2 with an easy 42-12 win over the hosts Ottawa. That earns them another match up against Queen’s in the semis.

Canadian University Men’s Rugby Championship 2024 (CUMRC) Starts Tomorrow: Schedule and Rosters

The CUMRC starts tomorrow in Ottawa, the matches will be live streamed on TheRugbyNetwork.com starting at 7:30am PT. The UBC v UBC Okanagan game starts at 10am PT and the Vikes v Queen’s match starts at 1:30pm.

UBC go in ranked #1, Vikes #3 and UBCO #8. Guelph are ranked #2, Memorial Seahawks #4, ETS Pirahnas #5, Queen’s #6 and host Ottawa #7.

We have the UBC and UBCO rosters below, UVic haven’t published their travelling roster at the time of writing. The full list of rosters is expected to be available this evening and we’ll update the story with the new information.

NOTE: All rosters now listed in this .pdf on the CUMRC site.

UBC will go in as favourites again, Memorial always surprise and bring that Newfoundland grit, UVic have struggled lately so the first matchup with Queen’s will be interesting, Guelph are #2 so may be UBC’s main competition. We don’t know much about ETS except they won the Quebec region, Ottawa as host are a bit of an unknown as well. UBC Okanagan are making their first trip to the tournament, unlikely they’ll upset #1 UBC in round 1 but may create an upset in the consolation rounds.

Expecting first round wins for UBC, Memorial, Guelph and Vikes as the rankings indicate.

Schedule (times in ET)