There are 19 Clubs represented in the semi-finals, 12 from the lower mainland, 1 from the interior, and 6 from the island. Meraloma have the most teams in the semis with teams in 4 divisions, followed by UBC and Westshore with teams in 3 divisions. Claiming doubles are UBCOB Ravens, Abbotsford, Squamish, Rowers, Comox, and Kamloops.
It seems it’s been a while since we’ve update the Highlanders news. With only 2 weeks left in the BC Premier regular season it will soon be Highlander season. Since our last update the Highlanders have selected two High School Players of the Week and announced three more reserve players and Highlander #22.
Twenty two Canada-eligible players took part in Week 8 of MLR, 15 starting and 7 in reserves. Four players have reached seven starts, Mason Flesch of Chicago, Dewald Kotze of Dallas, Mitch Richardson of Dallas and Josh Larsen of New England.
There was a good crowd on hand to watch the Vancouver Island Crimson Tide Classics cruise to a 72-7 win over the visiting Calgary Maverick Classics at MacDonald Park. The event was a fundraiser for the Canadian Rugby Foundation fund in memory of Kevin “Lunk” Wirachowski. There are 56 photos posted on the BCRN facebook page.
The BC Rugby leagues enter their final 3 weekends with quarter-finals this weekend, leading into the semis next weekend and finals at Burnaby on May 4th. In men’s Premier the Meralomas and UBCOB Ravens have claimed semi-final berths and will host the winner of the quarter-finals next weekend.
The results are in an it’s the visiting teams that won both matches, Westshore will take on Lomas next week and UBC will visit the Ravens.
‘BC Friends of Rugby’ is a group of passionate rugby people who are trying to give back and help grow our sport. This group is led by Eddie Evans, Mark Reid, Morris DeCotiis and John Middleton. They are involved in a number of plans to help support our sport of rugby.
Excellent field conditions and sunny weather were the backdrop for another strong outing by the Ravens. While the hosts had possession and ran at the Ravens in the early going it didn’t take long for the Ravens to notch a few tries and dampen the hopes of the home crowd.
We had a chance to chat with Aaron Takel about the new venture, Gainline Sport Coaching, he and Scott Manning have started. Links to their website and the SMUS summer camp they’re partnering with are included in the article. Also profile information for Aaron and Scott are appended below the interview.
The Canada men’s XVs team are hosting 3 international matches this summer, two in Ottawa versus Scotland and Romania in July and one in Vancouver versus Japan in August. The tickets for the Ottawa matches go on sale April 25th.