The Hong Kong 7s starts tomorrow with the women’s team kicking off at 7:30pm PT against Japan. Meanwhile there’s another tournament taking place in Hong Kong that involves Canadian players, that’s the prestigious Hong Kong 10s. Canada doesn’t have a team entered but there are 7 Canadians on the Hong Kong Football Club women’s team, called the HKFC Ice.
Last year the Canadian Classics team came 4th at the World Rugby Classic in Bermuda. They lost to Ireland in their first match, thumped USA in their second match and lost to South Africa in the Plate final. Argentina would claim 1st and France 2nd. The 2023 match reports are here.
The Howlers motto is “it’s more than a game, it’s a way of life”. This photo essay takes you through the Howlers tour to the Gran Jaguar 7s tour in Guatemala in October 2024. It features the photography of Chris Graham.
I feel I should explain to readers why there’s been no rugby update since October 12th, and I do have a reason, a rugby reason, I’m with the Howlers on their tour to Guatemala for the Gran Jaguar 7s tournament on October 18th and 19th. The tournament live stream is here.
The Howlers are preparing to head to Guatemala for the Gran Jaguar 7s tournament taking place October 18th and 19th in San Miguel Dueñas on the outskirts of Antigua, Guatemala. The team will be travelling down on the 12th for a week long preparation. National teams from Guatemala, Honduras, Belize, El Salvador will be participating, as well as development sides from Mexico (Linaje Azteca) and Guatemala (GT Juveniles). Besides the Howlers, 2 other social teams will be playing, the Chupacabras, a Houston, Texas based side and the Mayas a mix of Mexican and Guatemalan players.
The Dog River Howlers, an invitational rugby club, based out of Saskatchewan will be representing Canada at the Gran Jaguar Rugby 7s tournament in Antigua, Guatemala. The tournament includes national teams from across Central America as well as touring teams from Canada and USA. The tournament takes place on October 18th and 19th. It’s the second consecutive year the Howlers have attended the tournament.
The Canadian Ambassadors is a new rugby inititative, started by players, for players. The goal is to provide club players from across the country with the opportunity to go on tour and play against developing nations. The program follows a similar concept that New Zealand has been running with the Czech Republic for the past fifteen years. Over that time the Czech Republic has risen significantly through the IRB rankings (currently #34). The inaugural tour is set for Cancun, Mexico from October 9-15th, to play Mexico National XV. Mexico are ranked #43 in Mens IRB Rankings, behind Czech Republic (34) and Canada (22), but ahead of Barbados (72) who the Highlanders played during the summer.
The Westshore 7s wrapped up on Saturday with Westshore winning the men’s title, Thunder Indigenous winning the women’s title and the boys U18 title. JBAA won the girls U18 title, Abbotsford won the girls U16 title and CW won the boys U16 title.
The question of whether Canada would still host the 7s Series in 2025, now that the men’s team are no longer part of the core group, has been answered. Yes, Vancouver will be the 4th stop on the 2025 series.
Canada failed to make the 2023 World Cup, it was the first time in history the men’s XVs failed to qualify. The 2027 World Cup in Australia is expanded to 24 teams, so 4 more teams will qualify for the tournament.