The men’s Premier restarts this weekend at Week 5. We have the predictions and rosters below. The women’s Premier starts Week 1, we have the matches listed below and will post rosters if and when they’re made available.
With the second half of the season starting this weekend, it seemed a good idea to do an early preview/review article. Our usual prediction article will be on Friday once we have the rosters in.
The Pacific Pride defeated the Island Crimson Tide 54-25 to win the McKechnie Cup for the 2nd time in the cup’s 127 year history. The Pride won it the for first time in 2002, a few years before the program was cancelled in 2005. The Pacific Pride program was reintroduced again in 2019.
The McKechnie Cup and Dunbar Keg matches scheduled for this weekend at Abbotsford and Capilano have been cancelled due to weather and field conditions. The last round continues next weekend, weather permitting, Vancouver v Fraser Valley, North Island v South Island (Dunbar Keg) and Pacific Pride v Island.
[ed. photos from the Dunbar Keg match North Island v Fraser Valley can be viewed here.]
The BC Premier has closed down for the Dec/Jan break and it’s the McKechnie Cup and U20 Dunbar Keg regional matches now. It took a while to get the rosters but they’re in now. Vancouver weren’t able to put together a U20 team and the South Island win that match be default.
[ed. UPDATE: We’ve updated the wording to reflect the Ravens will be appealing so the official status of the Vikes match is unknown at this time. The Ravens weren’t able to show up for their match versus UVic, they’re apparently facing a ban on BC Ferries for a period of time. Excerpt of message from Ravens, “We will be appealing this decision and hope to reschedule the UVIC game for a later date. We will be formulating a response to BC Rugby.” More information when it becomes available.]
An unusual week to finish off the first part of the season, a potential default by the league leading Ravens, otherwise the games were close with a +6 average score. Next weekend sees the McKechnie Cup kickoff with the Pride hosting Fraser Valley and the Island hosting Vancouver. In the U20 Dunbar competition, North Island host Fraser Valley and South Island host Vancouver.
by Mike Devlin
BLRC Premier Reserve Men 45 JBAA 19
The BLRC Premier Reserve Men are on a roll, going 5-0 in the Regional Pre-season tourney and 3-0 since the season began. The squad, led by Tom Menzies, has been undefeated and have shown the ability to put points on the board and play some stingy defence. Theyve had some lop-sided victories and had to hold on to close out tight games. On Saturday, the BLRC ran rough-shod over a young James Bay team. The BLRC were just too big and too fast for James Bay to stop. Nolan Shelley was 100% from the tee, making all 6 conversions and one penalty. The trys were distributed evenly, 3 from the forwards and 3 from the backs.
by Peter MacDonald
On a beautiful fall day on a dry pitch at Jericho the Ravens blew open a close game late in the first half with their back line speed and they never looked back from there.
The average point differential continues to move upward as the top teams find their scoring touch. In Week 1 the average point differential was +8, Week 2 it went up to +15, this week it’s +27. The highest win was +55, the lowest +5.
by Peter MacDonald
On a windy day at MacDonald Park the Ravens prevailed in a close game between the two top teams from the mainland and Island pre-season competitions. The game hung in the balance till the last ten minutes and, but for a couple of early turnovers by the Bays, it could have been a different result.