Jake Thiel has been named as the 18th Vancouver Highlanders signing. Although mostly known for his play on the World Rugby 7s series, Jake was the starting #8 for Canada U20 in 2017 and may again be in contention to claim that spot for the senior men’s XVs. Just turning 27 he’s in his prime for the XVs game.
It’s good news for BC rugby fans as they’ll have the opportunity to watch the top 6 women’s teams in the world in their backyard. The tournament takes place over three weekends and the only venue information released so far is that “select games being held in Vancouver at BC Place Stadium”.
The Canada men’s team currently ranked #21 will host Scotland #6 on Saturday, July 6th in Ottawa. The following Friday, July 12th, they’ll host Romania #20 in Ottawa. On Sunday August 25th, they’ll host Japan #12 at BC Place in Vancouver.
This year according to our calculations there are 47 Canadian players in the MLR rosters. There are 24 in the Western Conference and 23 in the Eastern Conference. The largest number of Canadian players are on the New England Free Jacks (12), there are 3 teams with 7 players LA, Dallas and Utah. There’s one team with no Canadians, Houston Sabercats.
Alastair Marshall has been named as the 17th Vancouver Highlanders signing. Originally from Hudson Bay, Saskatchewan and the Regina Rogues rugby club he now plays for UBC in the BC Premier. That makes eight current and former UBC players on the Highlanders to date.
The women had their best tournament finish since the 2019-20 series. On Day 3 they lost to NZ in the cup semi-final 15-7 but rebounded to claim 3rd with a 19-14 win over Australia (video highlights). They now sit in a 4th/5th place tie in the standings with USA, both at 48 points. France are in 3rd with 62 points, NZ in 2nd with 66 points and Australia in 1st with 72 points. There are 3 tournaments left LA, Hong Kong, Singapore before the final tournament in Madrid where the top 8 teams will separate from the bottom 4 who will enter a relegation tournament. Currently the relegation teams for women are Brazil, Spain, Japan, South Africa.
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.