It was a good result for Canada, exceeded expectations I would say based on U20 results in recent years. Samoa are ranked #14 in the world, Canada #24, so there’s some hope in the young players coming through. The match was in the balance in the first half, the commentator remarked how the lead had changed 6 times.
May 24th 1987 was Canada’s 1st Rugby World Cup match. The game was against Tonga and Canada won 37-4, it was played in Napier, NZ in front of 7,000 fans. A try was worth 4 points then so Canada scored 7 tries to Tonga’s 1, Canada added 3 conversions and 1 penalty. Scoring for Canada were winger Pat Palmer of UBCOB (2T), centre Paul Vaesen of JBAA (2T), Rowers Ian Stuart at centre (1T), CW’s Flanker Rob Frame (1T) and a penalty try. Converting was CW’s Gareth Rees (1C), and JBAA’s (later Velox) fullback Mark Wyatt (2C). Gareth Rees also added a penalty.
The Canada U20 team won a close 26-22 contest over the Island XV. The U20 went ahead early after a blocked clearing kick from inside the Island 22, notch that one up to good defensive line speed and perhaps some shoddy clearance work from the Island XV. The Island responded with two tries, both unconverted, to go ahead 10-5. The grass was wet from day long rain and handling errors were mounting up, leading to scores. The U20 responded with two tries of their own, converted, 19-10. A great solo effort by inside centre Josh McIndoe extended the U20 lead to 26-10. The Island scored the last two tries to close the gap to 26-22.
Rugby Canada have completed the announcement of their summer/fall schedule for the men’s XVs team with the Canada v USA fixture in Calgary on August 22nd. That will give them 5 games between July and September, possibly 6 if they finish in the top 4 at the Pacific Nations. World Rugby have also announced the full schedule for the Pacific Nations. Both reports are listed below.
Coach Christiaan Esterhuizen has selected 32 players to make the trip to Fiji in May/June to play Samoa, Fiji and Tonga. There is no JWRT U20 championship this year, and there’s been no mention from World Rugby on what future plans are for U20 programs outside of the Tier 1 nations who are holding their Junior World U20 Championships in June/July in Italy.
If you’re not a regular starter in MLR, can you be considered an automatic for Canada selection? That’s a valid question as Canada looks towards its World Cup qualifier this year. If you’re good enough to get a regular starting slot in MLR, it’s likely you’ll be in contention for national team match selection but that introduces a problem as Canada doesn’t have MLR starters in several key position, the halfbacks, an openside flanker, the centres.
The Canada men’s XVs team will host Belgium and Spain at Edmonton’s Clarke Stadium in July. It will be Canada vs Belgium on Saturday July 12th and then Canada v Spain on Friday July 18th.
The Canada men’s U20 camp wrapped up on Sunday with an inter-squad match. Some comments from those at the match indicate the game was played in good spirits with black scrum dominating in the first half.
We compared our Pacific Pride list from the start of the fall season 2024, 6 have moved on (3 to MLR). There are 9 new players but include 3 returning players, 2 started late in the fall and 1 is returning from previous seasons. There are 3 players from the U18 camps held in 2024, 2 from Ontario universities and 1 from the Welsh Premier.
I have to admit, most of the Canadian rugby community feels sucker punched by Stephen Aboud right now. Instead of hiring Jamie Cudmore, who was the Canadian choice, he went for Australian Steve Meehan. I’ve had a few messages from Canadian rugby fans but as I’ve explained when you hire an American CEO and an Irish High Performance Director, you can’t expect a Canadian solution. Thank the current and previous Rugby Canada Board for that.