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.
CV Rapids out of Comox Valley won both the Girls U16 and U18 titles, defeating Abbotsford 29-7 in U16 and claiming the double over Abbotsford with a 12-10 win in U18. CW out of Oak Bay won the Boys U18 with a 36-31 win over UBCOB Ravens, Abbotsford defeated CW in Boys U16 by a score of 10 to 7 to claim the title.
It’s a big improvement for Canada, going from 8th in Dubai to 5th in Cape Town. Along the way they defeated Great Britain 27-12 and Japan 22-7. Japan defeated Canada twice in Dubai, so the Cape Town result shows the growth the team have had in between tournaments. The next challenge will be Perth in January, 24-26.
The Canadian men have a date in March in South Africa. There they will play two back to back tournaments and hope to finish in the top 8 or their journey is over. Only the top 8 teams will move on to Poland in April, and then only the top 4 will move on to LA for the promotion/relegation tournament in May.
It’s the day Canadian rugby supporters have been waiting for. When Canada didn’t make the 2023 Rugby World Cup for the first time in its history, the rugby community expected the coaching situation would be resolved quickly, instead Rugby Canada extended Kingsley Jones’ contract. The USA in contrast immediately removed their coach when they failed to make the World Cup and results have improved dramatically under domestic coach and former Eagle, Scott Lawrence, who understood the infrastructure, the culture and the steps needed to rebuild the USA men’s XVs program.
On a cool November day at Jericho the crowd were looking forward to a tight game as the Ravens were hosting a Caps team that had just knocked off the Lomas the previous weekend. And the Caps came out strongly in the early going pressuring the Ravens at their line but ultimately settling for 3 points from a penalty kick by fullback Mike Moloney. Unexpectedly though by the 20 minute mark the Ravens had put up four tries and had a 22-6 lead, a 16 point differential that remained at the final whistle.
Thanks to Peter Muirhead who put together these league tables for the weekend ending December 1st 2024.
Canada women lost both of their Day 2 matches, first to Australia in the quarter-finals and then to Japan in the 7th/8th playoff match. The loss to Australia was decisive 39-0, the loss to Japan was an improvement over their opening 40-5 pool loss to Japan, this time it was 24-22 with two late Canada tries closing the gap.
The Pacific Pride retained the Coastal Cup and remain in 3rd place in the BC Premier. Ravens go into the break as the only undefeated team, Burnaby rise in the standings as Caps and UBC both lose. In women’s Premier Westshore claim 2nd place with win over Burnaby. Play in the BC Premier resumes February 1st.
