It was everything the Highlanders would have wanted from their opening weekend, a double header win over Canada Selects (44-33) and Barbados (44-12). They reported the attendance at 1,023 and the YouTube stream shows 2,160 views, so you could say it reached over 3,000 people. It’s a positive start.
Last year we were looking at all the Canadian players competing in the Taranaki Premier in NZ, Callum Botchar, Izzak Kelly, Jacob Bossi and Noah Bain. This year it’s Western Australia. Also the MacDowell Rugby Academy are in Germany for the Heidelberg 7s this coming weekend.
There’s one week left in the regular season. The West playoff picture is clear, Houston will host Dallas and Seattle will host San Diego. In the East the top four playoff spots are known but the order can still be changed based on next weekend’s results, currently it would be New England hosting DC and NOLA hosting Chicago.
Coach Kingsley Jones has announced 34 players for the summer tests for Scotland and Romania, it’s a mixture of youth and experience but it’s possible a number of the players won’t get selected for either match day 23 as Jones has his favourites and has frequently named players who don’t make the match day lineups.
The Highlanders have walked back their plan to charge $40 plus fees ($46.39) for their opening games this Friday at Burnaby, (see previous article). They now are offering free admission, you can even “buy” online for $0 from their website.
The Canadian men will not be going to the Olympics, they lost to South Africa in the semi-finals 28-0 and then to Spain in the 3rd/4th place match 31-14. South Africa and Great Britain are playing in the final to determine the one Olympic qualifying spot. Canada did win their quarter-final match against Chile 24-19.
Phil Mack named his Canada Selects squad to take on the Vancouver Highlanders in their double header on June 28th. The other match will see Highlanders take on Barbados. It’s a fairly strong side with a good selection of Pacific Pride players, some who are playing for the Altantic Privateers during the Coast to Coast cup.
The Coast to Coast Cup kicked off yesterday without one coast represented, the Pacific coast. BC didn’t send a team this year, instead focusing on the Vancouver Highlanders and their semi-pro summer season.
The BCRU have announced changes to the schedule for the BC Bears U16 and U18 teams necessitated by the withdrawal of the girls Eagle Impact Rugby Academy (EIRA) teams who were to visit BC.
There are two weeks left in the regular season and the playoff bound teams have been set in the West with Houston claiming top spot, followed by Seattle, San Diego and Dallas. In the East there’s New England, New Orleans, DC and Chicago in the top four spots with Miami still mathematically alive but looking doubtful for a playoff spot. There were 32 Canada-eligible players in action, 18 starting and 14 in reserves.