Three items on the Editor’s Desk today, eight BC players on Acadia Women’s University team in Wolfville, NS. The Abbotsford v Langley Ken Peace Memorial game this weekend, and Shawnigan Lake School posting for a new Head of Rugby, $70k to 90k. Details below.
On a beautiful late summer day at Jericho the proceedings began with a moment’s silence for Joan Porter who passed away this summer. Joan was a leading supporter of BC Rugby and the four clubs her family were involved with over three generations, the Rowing Club, Meralomas, Ravens and Scribes. In recent years Joan would bus to Jericho, watch the game and mingle, then hang at the clubhouse and pick up a ride home like a 19 year-old with whomever was heading her way. She was loved and will be missed by the Ravens family.
In 2025 BC teams won 8 out of the 10 titles and 4 out of 4 of the Elite/Competitive titles. In 2026 BC won 4 out of the 10 titles and 1 out of 4 of the Elite/Competitive titles. In 2026 Alberta teams were the big winners, despite only representing 20% of the entrants they claimed 60% of the titles and 75% of the Elite titles. Is this an anomaly or does it mark a shift in youth rugby?
Special thanks to Peter Muirhead for putting these standings together, the PlayHQ system that Rugby Canada implemented and the BCRU has signed on with is still not working properly after Week 2. Peter had to do a lot work to put these tables together. Note the women’s competition starts September 26th. The PlayHQ system can be accessed here for match results, however tries and try bonus points are not accurately calculated on their system at this time. (story photo Josh Halladay, photo from Burnaby FB)
Canada’s last win against England came in 2016, they’ve lost to England the last 14 times and England has a 39 game winning streak against the world. Canada brought that to an end with a draw on Saturday. It was a back and forth match with the game tied at 19-19 at the half. England scored first in the second half, Canada tied it up with 20 minutes left in the match. The last quarter was scoreless and Canada decided to accept the draw by kicking the ball into touch while inside their 22. They’ll have two more cracks at England in Canada next month and they still have France to play on this tour. Below are the video highlights, the Rugby Canada report and the Canada player rankings by Planet Rugby.
The Ravens make it clear they’re looking to 4-peat the BC Premier championship as they dominate the Lomas in Week 2. The Caps show they’re contenders as they put in another bonus point win performance. UBC outlast Burnaby and turn it on in the last quarter. Bayside claim their first Premier win since returning to Premier
Week 2 kicks off with the defending champions UBCOB Ravens getting their first match of the season. The two Division One sides promoted this season, Bayside and Rowers, square off against each other. Can UBC keep focused on the BC Premier with the university championships on the horizon. Will defence be the difference this week as Capilano visit Westshore.
It was a tense game with an equally tense finish, USA bashing the line with time expired, Lucas Rumball imposing himself at the breakdown to dislodge the ball and Liam James kicking it out to end the match. Canada looked good in the first quarter, they went ahead 12-0, they looked in full control. USA turned it around in the 2nd quarter with a try and penalty goal, 12-10 at the half. USA went ahead on a penalty to start the second half but Canada ended the 3rd quarter with their 3rd try, by Jesse Kilgour. Canada then held on in the 4th quarter just giving up one penalty. It was 3 tries to 1 for Canada with USA kicking 3 penalties to keep it close. At one point in the 3rd quarter it was 11 handling errors for Canada to 2 for USA. Canada made it difficult for themselves but in the end they claimed the victory.
While the BC Premier kicked off last weekend, the UBCOB Ravens, last year’s champions, on a bye week, were south of the border in Ferndale, Washington at the Chuckanut Rugby Club playing Seattle, runners up in the USA club championship last season. It was billed as the Battle of the Border, we had run the initial story in July and Paul Horne sent us the match summary today, which we’ve posted below. The Ravens came away with $5,000 for their efforts in a 34-12 win. The Ravens will be hosting the Meraloma this coming weekend in the BC Premier.
Special thanks to Peter Muirhead for putting these standings together, the PlayHQ system that Rugby Canada implemented and the BCRU has signed on with did not work properly on Week 1, and is not working properly at time of writing. Peter had to do a lot work to put these tables together. Note the women’s competition starts September 26th. The PlayHQ system can be accessed here for match results, however tries and try bonus points are not working on their system at the present time. (story photo Kainoa Lloyd, photo by David Nicholson)
The club junior leagues kick off on September 27th in XVs, prior to that is the Kamloops 7s which is this coming weekend. The final this year is back on the Island as it alternates between Mainland and Island, Starlight Stadium will be the venue. The schedule isn’t posted yet. The BCRU are transitioning between SportLomo and PlayHQ systems and it’s not going smoothly. The senior leagues still don’t have the tries and bonus points entered from the past weekend. When the junior schedules are available we’ll update this article.