I love this story on several levels, raising the profile of rugby in BC, growing it outside the traditional mainland/island areas and featuring in a company in-house publication. Cory played at Velox/Westshore and when he moved to Trail he worked to revive the rugby club. He works at Teck Metals (part of Teck Resources) and they ran the story in their in-house publication “After Ours” and we’ve reprinted it below.
On a chilly January 24th morning, the KRC Senior Men and Women boarded the bus from Exhibition to start both of their second half campaigns.
The Senior men exited the bus at John Oliver Park for their Division 2 clash with the Brit Lions while the Senior women continued on to Connaught Park for this Division 1 match with the Meralomas.
The BC Premier resumes next weekend but there’s rugby action resuming in Div 1 to Div 3 plus the women’s regional competition is back with the Island hosting the Vancouver Thunderbirds. The current standings in all divisions are posted here. In men’s Div 1 the Rowers maintained their unbeaten record, narrowly defeating the Ravens. In men’s Div 2 Kelowna continued to roll and remain undefeated. In women’s regional rugby it was a lopsided result with a triple digit score differential.
The BC Rugby leagues resume this weekend, except for the Premier which restarts the following weekend, January 24th. We look at some of the races in the Div 1 to Div 3 space. In Men’s Div 1 the Vancouver Rowing Club are undefeated with 3 Island clubs in close pursuit, UVic, Westshore and Nanaimo. There was some talk of VRC returning to the Premier next season and a top Div 1 finish would back their claim. Langley who also have declared their intention of going up to Premier next season are in 12th place and will need to refocus in the 2nd half of the season. This weekend the Rowers host the winless Ravens, Langley host Capilano, UVic host Comox and Abby host Lomas.
Abbotsford set the standard this year in Girls rugby winning both the U16 and U18 finals in comfortable fashion. CW won the Boys U18 title and Capilano won the Boys U16 title. The BCRU write-ups are posted below along with photos of the winning teams, courtesy of BOLD Photos by Shelly.
Both KRC Senior squads were on the road this weekend for their final game of the first half. The men were away to Kats at Balaclava Park, while the women were playing Capilanos. However, due to field closures at Khlanie Park, the fixture was being played at Meralomas.
Another double KRC away game, and another 5:45 am leave for both Senior squads.
Kamloops Rugby Club Senior squads were in action this weekend. Players loaded the bus at Exhibition Park, leaving at 5:45am to make their way down to the lower mainland. The ladies were dropped off in Coquitlam for their Fixture versus United while the men carried on for their game at the Meralomas.
UBC confirmed their #1 ranking as they go 4-0 in the BC University qualifying series, TWU need a massive win next weekend against UVic to qualify for the nationals. Pacific Pride dominate in the Valley with a lopsided win. The Oakville Crusaders Junior program took a double from the Ravens on Friday and Ravens edged CW on Saturday.
There are no Premier games this Thanksgiving Weekend but there are two Premier level matches taking place this weekend plus the Oakville Crusaders Junior Program are on the Island for matches with the Ravens and CW.
The BCRU has revived the regional competition for women this year, the Ruth Hellerud-Brown Cup. It will replace the Blue-Gold Series that was held in the spring. The RHB Cup will be an in-season competition unlike the Blue-Gold Series which took place out of season in May/June. The competition will run over four weekends from November to March during bye and make-up weekends, Nov 8th, Dec 6th, Feb 14th, March 14th. It raises questions about the status of the men’s regional competition, the McKechnie Cup.