Congratulations to local rugby icon, John Lyall, for being named as a 2024 inductee into the North American Indigenous Athletics Hall of Fame. The ceremony will take place in Green Bay, Wisconsin on March 16th. John is being recognized for his building work in rugby, particularly with the Thunder Indigenous Rugby program, the first of its kind in Canada.
I did two levels of review on the book, one my immediate reaction after spending an hour scanning through from front to back, the other after I had read the book and had time to reflect on it. Both are posted below.
It is with a heavy heart and great sadness that we announce the passing of Fuku Vikilani. After many days of searching, Fuku was found on Dec 7th.
Bryan Kelly is well known in the BC Rugby community. He was a talented #10 in the JBAA Premier Reserve team. He went on to become the Communications Manager for Rugby Canada in 2012 a post he held for 7 years. He excelled in that position and from this Editor’s perspective, he was the best Communications Manager that Rugby Canada have had since Ian Kennedy in the 90s.
The University of Bordeaux streaming crew had a rough go of the tournament. The weather wasn’t the most cooperative and several of the UBC match streams were interrupted. UBC’s five pool matches are below, the streaming improved over the course of the tournament.
[ed. match video is here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_s3IbTdRpI
from England Rugby
Red Roses: Tries – Rowland (2), Packer, Carson, Kildunne (2), L. Packer, Allen. Cons – Rowland (5)
Canada: Tries – Pelletier, Beukeboom, Tuttosi, Grant. Cons – de Goede (2)
Coastal Cup
Pacific Pride v University Of Victoria @ 14:30
Referee: Derek Horton AR1: Al Humphries AR2: Jamie Roszel
Venue: MacDonald Park
Week 4 of the Coastal Cup kicks off this weekend but with UBC in France, there’s only the one match, Pride v UVic. The Pride look well ahead in the standings with 3 bonus point wins, a win this weekend would all but seal the deal for the Pride as returning champions. Speaking of UBC it looks like they lost both of their matches on Day 1 in Bordeaux, first against Bordeaux (8-16) and then Cape Town (7-24). On Saturday they’ll play the US team, Atlantic All Stars and then the Australian side from Sydney.
The BCRU bill it as the largest 7s tournament in Western Canada, we count 93 teams entered in 8 divisions. There’s U14 boys/girls, U16 boys/girls, U18 Open boys/girls and U18 Elite (boys/girls). It’s interesting, from a growth demographic perspective, that the largest division is the U16 girls with 20 teams entered. Most teams are from BC but there are a number of Alberta teams entered as well, we count 23 Alberta teams, with a few teams such as SheDevils, Lucky Ladies and 1697 where we’re unsure of their home base.
from BCRU
The highly anticipated BC Rugby Age-Grade XVs Club Season is around the corner – register now for a Fall U14, U16 or U18 League!
