BC Gold Win Western Canadian Championship Series

It was a busy weekend of rugby in BC with the high school Provincials wrapping up, the national women’s 7s team at the HSBC SVNS tournament in Spain so the BC vs Alberta women’s XVs matches may have been overlooked a bit. Kudos to the BCRU for putting out a summary on Monday. Basically both the BC teams, Gold and Blue, won their matches against Alberta in convincing fashion. BC Gold, the Mainland, won the overall competition due to their win over BC Blue, the Island, in the first match. That result was a bit closer at 35-20.

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BC Win 32-7 in Game #2 – 68-21 on Aggregate

BC claimed a 32-7 win in Game #2 for a 68-21 win on aggregate. BC came out strong scoring within the first five minutes and continued to add points throughout the match, Ontario got on the board in the last two minutes. The game notes are below. Showing well for BC were Cody Nhanala, probably the player of the series, Wes Black the surprise of the series (coming from a Div 1 club), Lockie Kratz who controlled both games, the McMullin brothers who are always solid. Brendyn Beck was also a player who deserves some attention from selectors and hopefully he gets invited to a Canada camp. Emerson Prior of course who was a mainstay of a strong BC front row. Don Carson was solid in the second row. Leave your thoughts in the comments section.

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BC Win Game #1 36-14 Behind Solid Scrum, Jackals and Chip Kicks

It was a good win for BC, the game sometimes felt like a Barbarians style game, neither team had a lot of time together and there wasn’t much cohesion in the backlines. The BC front row got the job done even though pregame it looked like Ontario might dominate this phase of the match with two international props but kudos to Wes Black who held his own against Djustice Sears-Duru and maybe won a bit more. Emerson Prior was up against Matt Tierney and again held his own and maybe won a bit more. Prior was the only prop to go the full 80 minutes. It certainly helped to have the two Carsons in the engine room. Cody Nhanala was probably the player of the match with multiple jackals and scoring the final try of the match. The McMullin brothers put in a good shift, both scoring tries, Talon with his enormous clearance kicks got BC out of trouble on a couple of occasions. Even though the BC backline couldn’t produce much in terms of passing cohesion, the chips kicks and grubbers through the line by Lockie Kratz were devastating and set up 3 of the 5 BC tries. Takoda McMullin’s kick to the corner set up the last try. The series is a composite score format so BC go into Saturday’s game #2 with a +22 advantage.

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Photos (20) With Commentary from Vancouver Island vs Ontario

The photos from the 1st half of the Island Tide vs Ontario Blues are posted below. I had to leave at halftime when Tide were leading 19-7 so was shocked when I got home and saw the final score 47-19 for Ontario. The players in these photos Gradyn Bowd, Brock Gallagher, D’Shawn Bowen, Kyle Tremblay, Owain Rutten, Emerson Prior were instrumental in getting that 1st half lead and didn’t feature in the 2nd half. BC just released their long list for the Ontario matches and all of these players but Gradyn Bowd are on the BC list. Bowd may have picked up an injury in this match, he is not available.

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Kamloops Match Reports by William Shaw: Both Raider Squads are Finals Bound!!

Blue skies overhead and the shining sun set the stage for two semi final games at Kamloops Rugby Club this weekend.

The Senior women were first to kick off to the visiting Bayside Sharks. The first half saw the Raiders controlling much of the play. Riley Halvorson opened the scoring for the hosts early on in the first half and Jess Oldenburger added the conversion, 7-0 KRC.

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Full Schedule of Quality Rugby in May – BC Club Finals, Ontario Tour, Alberta Tour

There’s a full schedule of quality rugby coming up in May starting with the club finals at Bayside next weekend. There are seven division to be contested Ravens v UVic in Men’s Premier, Thunderbirds v Westshore in Women’s Premier, Capilano v Rowers in Men’s Div 1, Kamloops v Capilano in Women’s Div 1, Kamloops v Kelowna in Men’s Div 2, Chilliwack v Kelowna in Women’s Div 2, Burnaby v Rowers in Men’s Div 3.

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Kamloops Match Reports by William Shaw: Home Teams Claim Quarter-Final Wins and Set to Host Semi-Finals This Weekend

It was a big day this past Saturday at Exhibition Park in Kamloops, with both KRC senior squads hosting their respective quarter finals.

The men’s game was first on the line up with the Raiders hosting Richmond. The men kicked off to the visitors and through tight pressure eventually gained control of the ball and put the Richmond defense under instant pressure, with Raider second row Max Heppner finding a gap and scoring for the Raiders, try went unconverted, 5-0 KRC.

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Semi-Final Weekend in BC Rugby: 14 Matches in 7 Divisions at 8 Venues with 21 Clubs Represented

There are 14 semi-final matches this coming weekend in 7 divisions at 8 venues with 21 clubs represented. There are 7 clubs with two teams in the semis UVic (2), Burnaby (2), Capilano (2), Rowers (2), Bayside (2), Kamloops (2), Kelowna (2). There are 14 clubs with one team in the semis Ravens, JBAA, UBC, Meraloma, Westshore, Thunderbirds, Nanaimo, Comox, United, Kats, Chilliwack, Ridge Meadows, SFU, Langley.

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Twenty Quarter-Final Matches This Weekend at Fifteen Locations Across the Province

There are 20 quarter-final matches this weekend at 15 locations, there was one default in men’s Div 2. There are double headers at Juan de Fuca, Klahanie, Brockton Oval, South Surrey Athletic Park and Kamloops.   The match locations, times and referee assignments are listed below. We’ll do our BC Premier predictions and rosters article on Friday, we’ll also list rosters for other divisions if they’re sent to us, text format preferred, email editor@bcrugbynews.com

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