The BC Premier kicked off this weekend with four games, the Bays had a bye and the Pride were playing a Coastal Cup match. The theme of the season seems to be parity early on with an average of a 3 point difference over 4 matches in the BC Premier.
Canada can rise to #2 in the World Rugby rankings overtaking NZ on Sunday with a win over France. The result of the NZ vs Ireland match won’t improve NZ’s World Rugby ranking due to the large ranking difference between NZ and Ireland.
BC Rugby is delighted to announce the 2024 Hall of Fame Dinner, honouring BC Rugby’s Hall of Fame Class of 2024 and this year’s winners of The Joan Spray & Jack Patterson Memorial Awards.
I had a chance to talk to Ralph McRae, one of the driving forces behind the Vancouver Highlanders, and I’ll share my thoughts from the conversation. I’m sure if I get anything wrong, Ralph or Curry will let me know.
The Fraser Valley clubs Abbotsford and Langley did well in the Kamloops 7s elite divisions, Abbotsford won the U18 Boys top division plus the U16 Girls top division, Langley won the U18 Boys top division plus the Boys U14. James Bay from the Island won the U16 Girls top division plus the U14 Girls.
Canada have reduced their 35 player training camp list by cutting 6 players and adding one that wasn’t on the original training camp list.
The Coastal Cup enters week 3 with the two tops teams battling it out to determine who will remain on top and get an edge on claiming the Coastal Cup this year. The Dunbar Keg U20 competition takes a week off and men’s Div 1 kicks off across the province.
The Club Age-Grade or Youth season starts September 29th. There are seven weeks of regular season play, 2 weeks of regional playoffs and the final is December 8th at Starlight Stadium in Langford. The finals in December will pit the top U16 and U18 teams in the Province against each other in both the boys and girls divisions. The U14 competition is regional only.
Rugby Canada made a strange post on Instagram today that seemed out of character and out of date. It referenced an October 2023 World Rugby Council decision, that came into effect on August 1 2024, and it’s now September 17th. There was no corresponding World Rugby announcement except the one in August. The Rugby Canada article is posted below.
The Canada men’s XVs team get two more test matches this year with Romania hosting. First up on November 9th Canada will play Chile, then on November 16th they’ll face the hosts, Romania. The three teams are consecutively ranked from 20th to 22nd in the world.