It was a good result for Canada, exceeded expectations I would say based on U20 results in recent years. Samoa are ranked #14 in the world, Canada #24, so there’s some hope in the young players coming through. The match was in the balance in the first half, the commentator remarked how the lead had changed 6 times.
With 2 weeks of the regular season left, Houston and Utah are tied for points at the top of the West conference and New England tops the East conference. There were 25 Canadian players in action, 14 starting and 11 in reserves. Noah Flesch made the MLR Team of the Week for Chicago.
Games This Week
Sr Boys Provincial Championships Wednesday May 28 to 31. Quarterfinal Matchups:
Shawnigan v Abbotsford
Quw’utsun v Kelowna
Oak Bay v Carson Graham
Claremont v Lake City
SMUS v Argyle
Brentwood v Charles Tupper
May 24th 1987 was Canada’s 1st Rugby World Cup match. The game was against Tonga and Canada won 37-4, it was played in Napier, NZ in front of 7,000 fans. A try was worth 4 points then so Canada scored 7 tries to Tonga’s 1, Canada added 3 conversions and 1 penalty. Scoring for Canada were winger Pat Palmer of UBCOB (2T), centre Paul Vaesen of JBAA (2T), Rowers Ian Stuart at centre (1T), CW’s Flanker Rob Frame (1T) and a penalty try. Converting was CW’s Gareth Rees (1C), and JBAA’s (later Velox) fullback Mark Wyatt (2C). Gareth Rees also added a penalty.
A close 12-7 game at the half blew up into a 62-7 win for Island Blue as they added 50 points in the second half. Winger Jenna De Greeff notched 3 tries, Justine Blatt-Janmaat at scrum half kept the team on the front foot, Sierra Gillis (tight head), Emily Findlay (8), and Shaye Ogurek (flanker) all had strong games for the Blue forwards, in the backs Lara Wright at outside centre was a standout as was Emily Currey on the wing. Carissa Norsten was originally listed as outside centre for the Island team but didn’t suit up so Lara Wright moved from #12 to #13 and Hadley MacPherson moved from the reserves to starting #12.
Canada were relentless on attack and committed on defence as they pummelled host Australia 45-7.
Scorers: McKinley Hunt (1T), Karen Paquin (1T), Laetitia Royer (1T), Krissy Scurfield (1T), Alex Tessier (1T), Fabiola Forteza (1T), Julia Schell (1T, 5C)
A couple of announcements out of World Rugby this week. The men’s RWC 2027 Final Qualifier tournament will be held in Dubai from November 8-18. This is one of those news items that you hope won’t apply to Canada but it may. The Canada men’s XVs team will have 4 opportunities to qualify for the World Cup before that tournament with a win against one of the following countries this summer/fall USA, Japan, Tonga (likely), Chile (likely). Belgium, who Canada will host this summer, have already qualified for the 4 team RWC Qualifier in Dubai in November.
There will be a celebration of life for Brent Johnston at Windsor Park on May 24th. There will be drinks and food available. They are expecting a decent crowd so they are advising that besides the usual Windsor Park parking, there is extended parking at Oak Bay Marina with a short two block walk to Windsor. There will be donation jars for a fund that Brent held close to his heart. Drinks have been kindly sponsored by a variety of folks, JBAA and Cowichan each contributed kegs.
This week, Shawnigan held off a persistent Oak Bay in their AAA semi-final, while Brentwood made light work of Mt Douglas in the AA semi. In the junior boys, Oak Bay beat Shawnigan to win the Island Championship.
There were 26 Canadian players participating in Week 14 of MLR, 15 starters and 11 in the reserves. Week 14 was another strange schedule week with the week starting with a Tuesday match and finishing with a Monday match. Old Glory played twice on Tuesday and Sunday. There are 3 weeks left in the regular season schedule and Houston leads the West and New England leads the East. Shane O’Leary scored 15 points in the Miami upset over New England with a try, 2 penalties, and 2 conversions.