It’s Week 6 in the 19 Week league, so about 1/3 through. Each team plays a home and away with the other 8 teams plus one home game against the Pride for 17 games in total per team, except the Pride. There’s no Premier rugby on Remembrance Day weekend, play resumes November 15th.
With young Kiwi referee Cole Northcote presiding on a cool but thankfully drying afternoon at Jericho U Vic had no sign of ferry legs and brought the heat early. A UVic forwards try at 5 minutes woke up the Ravens who answered with two tries of their own through their forwards and #9 Billy Wickham by the 15-minute mark, 14-7 Ravens. But then UVic took over the game, dominating territory and possession till the half.
It’s Week 5 of the BC Premier with 4 matches, Westshore and Pride have a bye and are playing a friendly on Friday evening at Starlight Stadium. It’s Week 3 of the Women’s Premier with 2 matches on the slate. UBC remain the only undefeated side in men’s Premier, while Burnaby and Westshore top the women’s Premier.
A close game was expected between these two west side rivals, and it was that till the 20-minute mark. The Lomas controlled possession and scored early but the Ravens then reeled off 8 tries on the trot, four in each half, suggesting that their game may now be rounding into form.
Some surprising scorelines on a cold, rainy weekend on the west coast. UBC look to be the on form team and sit top of the standings, the Ravens have started to find their form with some key player additions, Bays playing solid rugby and the Caps with the upset of the weekend.
It’s Week 4 of the men’s BC Premier and Week 2 of the women’s Premier. UBC sit top of the standings with a 3-1 record, they’ve played one more game than the rest of the league as they fit their home and away games against the Vikes in early as part of the University Qualification series. Westshore are the only team at 3-0 and those two teams meet to determine top spot. Burnaby are close behind with a 2-1-0 record having tied UBC in their first match.
We have some great photographers in BC who post on social media, mostly Instagram and Facebook. We feature 6 this weekend. If you know of other photographers on social media who cover rugby, send us the link to their account, either in the comments below or email editor@bcrugbynews.com
After two early season losses the Ravens looked like world beaters for the first 20 minutes of this game hopefully bringing a smile to Coach Taylor’s face. Constant possession, long uninterrupted phases of play with quick hands and lots of support led to two tries by the quarter. Wing Cole Keffer scooped up a blocked Caps kick, looked to pass but when a Caps player shot the gap he headed straight north on a hard cut and Joe Locke from Ethan Berry dotted down. A strong run from #10 Andrew Coe put Hamish Janes in at 20 minutes capping the early dominance and bringing the score to 12-0.
It’s Week 3 of the BC Premier and we see some big names returning to play in the Canadian Winter League, aka BC Premier. Just at #10 we have national team players Cooper Coats, Andrew Coe, Mark Balaski, Ethan Turner all starting this weekend. Lucas Rumball returns to the BC Premier after many seasons away, he’ll be starting as Ravens openside flanker.
There are four matches in the men’s Premier this weekend, Week 3. The UBC vs UVic Premier match is also a National University Qualifier and part of the Wightman Boot competition between the two universities. The Pacific Pride are playing an exhibition against Seattle. The women’s Premier kicks off with two matches, there was supposed to be three but the Ravens v Thunderbirds match has been marked as cancelled. The Ravens apparently haven’t been able to put together a women’s Premier team at the time of writing. We’ll have our predictions article out tomorrow when we have the rosters for the weekend. The current Week 2 standings are posted below.
On a cool windy day at Jericho that felt more like rugby weather the home side put in a hard shift of rugby but just fell short against a talented Westshore team.