The U15 girls division was the first to wrap up with the South Island Tide winning the title, Celtic Barbarians were second and the North Island Tsunami were third. The U16 boys result was next with the South Island Tide claiming the title, the Edmonton Gold claiming second and Fraser Valley earning third.
Caden Wilson has been named as the 16th Vancouver Highlanders signing. Caden is a young second row player who represented Canada at the U20 level in 2023 and 2022 and won a national championship with the BC U19 team in 2022. He currently plays for UBC.
Seattle put in their 1st team players against the Canada Selects a team composed of Pacific Pride and BC Premier players. The Seawolves went out to a 40-0 half time lead but the Selects kept it close in the 2nd half 14-7.
Reid Watkins has been named as the 15th Vancouver Highlanders signing. A talented scrum half who was a key part in the Seattle Seawolves run to the MLR final in 2022. He has played BC Premier with Burnaby since 2017 and was a member of the BC Bears team that won the McTier Cup in 2017. Originally from Okotoks, Alberta he has also has competed in wrestling at an elite level.
The Bentall Centre on Burrard Street announced a noon to 4pm Vancouver 7s kick-off party on Friday that includes a beer garden, food trucks, DJs plus discount parking and a shuttle service to BC Place.
A top MLR team vs an Academy team, it’s a good reminder of the difference in levels. The score was 50-0 at the half so the Pride can be credited with adapting a bit and making the second half 29-7. The Pride are always a level below their top form when the spring season begins and they bring in new players to replace those picked up by MLR or graduating after the fall season. Last season in February after the break they were beaten 48-10 by UBC.
Payton Teneycke has been named as the 14th Vancouver Highlanders signing. Payton has come through the Canada U18, Canada U20 and UBC pathway.
Another UBC player has been added to the Highlanders roster, that makes six so far including a potential all UBC front row of Teneycke, Bossi and O’Flaherty. Payton was selected to the University All Star team at tighthead prop in UBC’s latest championship run in November 2023.
Saracens remained top of the table after week 11 although Gloucester in second have a game in hand on the leaders. Standout Canadians were McKinley Hunt for Saracens who scored a hat trick of tries and Claire Gallagher of Leicester who scored a brace and also had her intercept try selected as the Try of the Week.
D’Shawn Bowen has been named as the 13th Vancouver Highlanders signing. He has represented Canada on the World Rugby 7s series, at the 7s World Cup and Commonwealth Games. He has played for Canada ‘A’, the Pacific Pride and for the Toronto Arrows of the MLR.
Thanks to Peter Muirhead who put together these league tables for the weekend ending Feb 11th.