The Valley as usual came through strong in youth rugby, winning 3 out of 4 top titles at the U18 and U16 level. Abbotsford claimed the U18 Girls Elite and U16 Boys Competitive titles, CW claimed the U18 Boys Elite and Langley the U16 Girls Elite.
A good initiative by the BCRU to send two youth teams to Ontario before school starts in September. The teams will play regional games and then play the full Ontario team in their last match. John Tait the BC Rugby Technical Director stated, “We hope this will become an annual series of games between Ontario and BC, and that Rugby Canada will recognize the value of programming for this age band.“.
Tuesday Results:
Bears U17 Girls 25-17 TRU/EORU
Bears U17 Boys 32-15 TRU/EORU
Thursday Results:
Bears U17 Girls 31-22 SWRU/NRU
Bears U17 Boys 36-12 SWRU/NRU
The home side Yeti Rugby were dominant in the women’s 7s competition, outscoring opponents 175 to 22, and claimed the 2025 women’s title. The men’s XVs competition was a lot closer with Vernon winning the final by one point over the Terrace team.
The BCRU have announced the men’s and women’s teams to take part in the U19 Canadian Rugby Championships which start next week. The men’s coach is Curry Hitchborn and the women’s coach is Jake Thiel. Last year the men came second to Ontario, losing a close 17-10 match in the final. Ontario also won the women’s title, BC finished with 3 losses and a draw. The teams kick off on July 22nd with both teams facing the Atlantic Rock.
The Vancouver Wave dominated the boys competition winning Gold at the U19, U17 and U15 levels. The Island Tide dominated the girls competition winning Gold at the U19, U17 and Silver at the U15 levels, also claiming Silver in the boys U15. The Fraser Valley won Gold in the U15 girls and Silver in the U19, U17 girls and U17 boys. The Interior had their best showing in the U19 boys division, winning Silver.
The Vancouver Wave struck first just 3 minutes into the match with a lineout and maul that went to ground just short of the goal line, a couple of pick and goes saw them go over, Mike Moloney converted, 7-0. At this early stage of the game the Wave lineout looked to be functioning well and as the commentator noted, the Wave team seemed suited to a strong forwards match while the Tide would likely rely on an expansive game.
The UBCOB Ravens announced they will be re-establishing a women’s team for the 2025-26 season with Jake Thiel as head coach. The media release is below. We also dug into the archives to look at the history of women’s rugby at Jericho with some excerpts from the research of Doug Sturrock and Dave Pearcey. The Jericho Old Girls were one of three Vancouver women’s teams in 1978 and can claim to be the first champions of the West Coast Women’s Rugby Association (WCWRA) which was started in 1981 with 1982 being the first season played. The team coaches were well known UBCOB players Doug Carr, Rick Bourne, and Garth Henrikson. It doesn’t appear the team continued into the 90s and I’m not sure if there were more recent revivals since then, we’ll update the article if we find more information.
A new CEO and a new President in quick succession, it will be interesting to see what direction the BCRU takes with the changes at the top. Andy Margolis is COO at Vancouver International Airport, originally from the UK, as is the new CEO, Matthew Carter. Margolis worked at Heathrow Airport holding positions as Head of Operations, Airport Security Manager and Terminal Manager. He also had a term as Operations Manager – Neighbourhood Policing Team at Thames Valley Police. He brings a lot of background skills to this new position.
The Canada Summer Games are taking place in St. John’s, Newfoundland between August 8-25. The Rugby 7s takes place Aug 11-13. In 2022 it was just U18 women’s Rugby 7s, won by BC, but in 2025 it will be men’s U20 and women’s U18 Rugby 7s.
This year the PRCs have a slight change, less teams, higher quality. The number of teams have been reduced to four representing the four main regions of BC: Vancouver, Vancouver Island, Fraser Valley and Interior. There was an earlier post in March that explained those changes.