Great article on RugbyPass (owned by World Rugby) about Jamie Cudmore, the state of men’s rugby in Canada and the cancel culture at Rugby Canada that’s preventing his return… “is there no forgiveness?”
A couple of recent topics merit some attention as the year winds down. There’s been rumours circulating out of Italy about Stephen Aboud’s return, we’ll keep an eye on that. Of course everyone wants to know what is happening with Kingsley Jones replacement, at least what’s the process, again something to keep an eye on. We post some thoughts on those topics below.
I received this open letter to the rugby community from Dr. John Gillis on his and the Atlantic Privateers vision for a national men’s competition. It’s listed below and I’ve added an Editor’s comments below that with some of my views.
I was browsing on X (formerly Twitter) and saw a post from an account called Tier 2 which asked a valid question, “Any good theories for why ???? Canada women (ranked 2nd in 15s & Olympic silver in 7s) currently such contrast to woeful state of the men’s sides? Even accounting for much shallower field on women’s side to be ranked 2nd with no Tier 1 money very impressive.”
I had a chance to talk to Ralph McRae, one of the driving forces behind the Vancouver Highlanders, and I’ll share my thoughts from the conversation. I’m sure if I get anything wrong, Ralph or Curry will let me know.
Last year we were looking at all the Canadian players competing in the Taranaki Premier in NZ, Callum Botchar, Izzak Kelly, Jacob Bossi and Noah Bain. This year it’s Western Australia. Also the MacDowell Rugby Academy are in Germany for the Heidelberg 7s this coming weekend.
It’s time to double back on a couple of stories from last week and dig down a bit deeper. The first story is the men’s 7s team getting relegated from the World Rugby 7s series, the second story is the men’s U20 loss to the USA on home soil. Both are connected through a theme of “what’s happening with the national men’s rugby programs”?
Carissa Norsten was named World Rugby Women’s Sevens Series Rookie of the Year, let that sink in a bit. The Men’s Sevens Series Rookie of the Year was Antoine Dupont, a seasoned XVs professional rugby player who some claim is the best rugby player in the world at the moment. How did a young woman from rural Saskatchewan who first touched a rugby ball 5 years ago at age 15 get to share the same honour as a professional rugby player who has played since age 4, professionally since 18, in a country where rugby is a national pastime? The answer may provide a clue as to how Canada is going to compete internationally and develop rugby talent.
A few destinations around the world that caught my eye involving Canadian teams and players. The UBCOB Ravens just returned from playing the Mexico National XVs team, MacDowell Rugby are travelling to Germany in June, the Madrid 7s pools were announced and Francois Ratier and his Stade Bordelais team are in the France Elite league playoffs.
The Canadian men’s 7s team have lost 25 games in a row, they’ve finished last in all events except one. They’re entering the repechage tournament in Madrid in 19 days, it’s an 8 team tournament with the top 4 teams remaining in the series next season. We already know Canada are in a pool with USA and the remaining two teams in their pool will be chosen from the top four group of the Challenger series, currently Uruguay, Kenya, Chile and Germany. There’s one more Challenger tournament this coming weekend in Germany to decide the final Challenger rankings.