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.
A couple of news stories today, maybe more to add later today. Bayside are looking for a men’s head coach for next season, starting in August. See the ad below, their Insta is @Bayside_RFC
This was the final week of the regular season. It had the most Canadian players in action this season with 17 starters and 12 in the reserves. Next weekend the playoffs start, in the West #1 Utah hosts #4 Seattle and #2 Houston hosts #3 LA. In the East #1 New England will host #4 Miami and #2 Chicago will host #3 Old Glory.
Mainland Gold won the final match in the three game series 29-24. It was Blue leading at the half 17-12, then 24-12 but unlike the first two matches when Blue then pulled away to win comfortably it was Gold who did all the scoring to end the match.
It was a strong win by the Canada U20 men’s team who went 2-1 at the Oceania U20 tournament defeating Samoa and Tonga. There were 8 separate try scorers in the match with Liam James notching the double. Liam is the son of Canada rugby great Mike James who the announcer called, “the greatest player of Canada rugby of all time” on Liam’s second try (see video highlight below).
The 2025 BCRU AGM is coming up June 21st. Gone are the days of in-person meetings, now it’s done virtually on zoom. The link to the documents and details are here.
One of the interesting documents is the Vote Allocations, votes according to the bylaw document are “based on the Represented Individual Members who have paid annual dues of BC Rugby as of August 31st of each year”. It’s a way of comparing membership growth (or decline) in various regions and clubs.
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It’s 3 in a row for former Canadian women’s coach Francois Ratier as Stade Bordelais won their 3rd Elite 1 title in France, the top club competition for women in France. They defeated Toulouse in the final.
There were 28 Canadians in action in Round 16, 15 starting and 13 in reserves. There’s one week left in the regular season, four teams from each conference go to the playoff round, so in the East NOLA and Anthem are out, in the West it will be either Seattle or San Diego depending on Round 17 results.
It could have been worse, Canada were down 42-0 at 35 minutes into the first half and a point per minute 80-0 hiding wasn’t out of the question. Fiji were playing a high tempo game and Canada didn’t have their heads in the game. Fortunately half time was coming up, a time to regroup, and make some changes. It was a good time for Josh McIndoe to insert himself into the match, picking up an errant Fiji pass that went to ground and take it to the try line. Canada at least finished the half on a high note, down now only 42-7.