Category Archives: Front Page

Referee News – June 2026

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CTV Article on Robin Kaluzniak: Edmonton Teacher Referees Major League Rugby Final

This was a story we missed from last weekend when the Chicago Hounds with three Canadians in the roster won the MLR title. The referee in the match was Edmonton teacher, Robin Kaluzniak. The article from CTV News is posted below. We took a quick look through our recent archives, 2023 he was in Nairobi, Kenya reffing the Junior World Rugby Trophy tournament. In 2024 he was announced as one of the referees in the World Rugby Sevens Challenger Series, then was assistant referee in two USA international tests against Romania and Scotland. Also in 2024 and 2025 he shows up in the archives reffing MLR matches. Going farther back we have an article from 2017 when he was assistant referee in the Americas Rugby Championship held in Langford. The CTV article mentions he’ll be AR at some USA test matches this summer. Congrats Robin!

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Summer 7s Tournaments 2026

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Sevens Tournaments This Summer in BC Starting in July

The following are a list of summer 7s tournaments in BC that we’re aware of. SFU’s Highland 7s kicks off July 18th, Bayside 7s is August 8th and Westshore 7s is August 22nd. Usually there’s a 7s tournament at Burnaby on the weekend in between, August 15th, but we haven’t seen that posted yet. If we missed one mention it in the comments section.

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Canada Nations Cup Squad – Summer 2026

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Meehan Announces 32 Player Squad for Summer Nations Cup Matches: Tyler Ardron, Evan Olmstead and Cooper Coats All Available

Stephen Meehan has named his 32 player squad for the summer Nations Cup matches against Spain, Portugal and Zimbabwe. The good news is the trio of Evan Olmstead, Tyler Ardron and Cooper Coats, who were instrumental in Canada’s only win under Meehan, are available.  All three have been missing from the Canada roster recently. Also good news is the return of Andrew Quattrin. There are a number of players missing from Meehan’s recent selections, Callum Botchar, Emerson Prior, Austin Creighton, James Naylor who were part of the November 2025 rosters didn’t get a mention in the injured/unavailable list. Botchar had earned a starting role with the Seattle Seawolves and Prior was outstanding in the BC v Ontario series. Brock Webster who has been outstanding with MLR champions Chicago Hounds has been marked unavailable/injured.

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Junior World U20 Championship – 2026

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World Rugby Junior World U20 Championship Kicks Off on Saturday in Georgia

The newly formatted World Rugby U20 Championship (JWC) kicks off this coming Saturday in Georgia. It has been expanded to 16 teams, it includes the 12 from last year, and four new teams, Fiji, USA, Japan, Uruguay. Fiji qualified as the 12th place team in JWC 2024, USA, Japan, Uruguay qualified as the top finishers, 2 to 4, from the 2024 JWRT Tier 2 competition. Scotland won the 2024 JWRT and were already promoted to the JWC in 2025.

Canada are out of the picture, they didn’t qualify for JWRT 2024 as they lost to USA. Canada will enter the World Rugby U20 Challenger Cup being held in Chile in October with teams from Belgium, Hong King China, Brazil, Namibia, Portugal, Romania and Chile. There’s no word yet on how the promotion/relegation works between the Championship and Challenger series. It looks like the games will be available in Canada on TSN or outside of Canada on rugbypass.tv

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MLR Final 2026

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Chicago Hounds Top Off Perfect Season with Championship Win Over California Legion, 35-17

Chicago dominated the game leading 32-3 through three quarters with California scoring two consolation tries in the last 20 minutes. Mason Flesch was one of the try scorers for Chicago. Chicago opened with a penalty by flyhalf Chris Hilsenbeck at 4′, hooker Theo Fourie added a try two minutes later, converted by Hilsenbeck for a 10-0 lead. California closed the gap with a penalty before Mason Flesch scored at 26′, again converted by Hilsenbeck and Chicago led 17-3 at the half. Hilsenbeck opened the second half with a penalty, 20-3. Chicago would score two more tries, the first by winger Peyton Wall at 47′ and the second by second row Nathan den Hoedt at 53′ and it was a commanding 32-3 lead. California would score two tries in the last quarter before Hilsenbeck ended the match with a penalty kick, final 35-17.

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Rugby Premier League 7s 2026 – Round 5 Updates

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Canadians Shine in HSBC Sponsored 7s League in India

Currently after 5 rounds the teams with the largest Canadian contingents are sitting top of the table. The Chennai Bulls women’s team with four Canadians top the table and Savannah Bauder is the top points scorer with 73 points, 23 points ahead of the next player. Savannah Bauder is 2nd in tries scored with 9, Adia Pye and Eden Kilgour are tied in 3rd place with 5 tries and Lara Wright is close behind with 4 tries. Carmen Izyk is top tackler in the women’s competition with 18 tackles. In the men’s competition the Mumbai Dreamers top the table and have two Canadian players, Demetri Patterson was selected player of the match in Round 5 as he scored 2 tries in Mumbai’s win.

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Provincial Regional Championships (PRCs) 2026

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Regions Prepare for Provincial Regional Championships: Fraser Valley Venom Release Rosters

The 2026 Provincial Regional Championships (PRCs), take place on July 4-5 at Abbotsford Exhibition Park. Last year the event was held at Shawnigan Lake. In 2025 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.

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Saratoga Cup – June Updates

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Williams Lake Undefeated in Interior, Yeti/Vernon Battle for Top Spot in Okanagan, Rocky Mountain Rogues Dominant in Kootenays

The Saratoga Cup final tournament takes place August 8th/9th in Fernie with the top team from the three regions getting an invite with host Elk Valley automatically qualifying. The current standings for the three regions are listed below courtesy of the BCRU.

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World Rugby Updates – Tackle Height in Community Rugby

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World Rugby Issued Media Release Today on Tackle Height: Coaches Can Register for Zoom Session with Chris Assmus Tonight at 7pm – Also Included BC Rugby Education Video on Tackle Height and  Head Contact Review

World Rugby issued a media release today (see below) stating they have, “approved adoption into full law a lower tackle height in community rugby, following positive trials over the last two years”. BC have been playing sternum height tackling so there shouldn’t be a lot of impact come July 1st. If you want further clarification, Chris Assmus is hosting a zoom session tonight for coaches at 7pm, you can register at this link. Also the video below featuring Chris on the BC Rugby Education channel covers the topic of tackle height and head contact review, it was posted four days ago so is up to date.

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