Category Archives: University

University Rugby Programs

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McGill University Women’s Rugby Program Reaches $55k of $75k Goal in Fundraiser to Reinstate Program

There was a lot of press in November around the McGill University decision to cut 25 sports programs. The McGill University women’s rugby program, which was one of the 25, started an awareness campaign and a fundraising campaign to get the program reinstated. They exceeded their initial goal of $35k and are currently aiming for $75k with $55k currently raised. It reminded me of a similar UBC action in 2014 which included a notice that the UBC women’s rugby program would be cut. The difference is that the UBC process seemed to go through a longer consultation process and at least a couple of reviews. The UBC women’s rugby program is still very much active and they’ve actually won the last two university championships.

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Reflections on Men’s University Championship 2025

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The Guelph Formula for Success: Player Talent and Coach of the Tournament Cory Hector

Guelph won the men’s university title this year, the first for an Ontario university. We thought we’d take a look at the team and the formula for success and give a shout out to the coach, Cory Hector, who was selected the Coach of the Tournament by tournament organizers.

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Canadian University Men’s Rugby Championship 2025

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Guelph Becomes First Ontario University to Win Men’s National Title: UBC Place 3rd

The University of Guelph became the first Ontario university to claim the men’s national university title when they defeated hosts ETS 18-13 on Sunday. In the Bronze medal match it was UBC over UVic 27-12. UBC had won 5 of the first 6 championships with UVic winning the other, ETS broke the BC dominance last year and Guelph have put their name on the cup this year.

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Women’s University Championship – 2025

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UBC Defend Title on Last Minute Try: UBC 15 – UVic 13

UBC repeat as U SPORTS champions with a last minute win over UVic. UVic went up 3-0 in the first quarter on a penalty kick, UBC scored the first try set up by a strong run by prop Kiki Idowu and finished off by fullback Olivia Saraburu, 7-3 for UBC. UBC added a penalty in the second half to go up 10-3. UVic hit back with a halfback combination try, #9 Justine Blatt Janmaat with the line break and offload to #10 Ella O’Regan, 10-8 for UBC with 20 minutes left. UVic wing Eden Kilgour put UVic ahead with a try outside with 5 minutes left, 13-10 for UVic. UBC scored at the whistle, a try outside by wing Adia Pye, 15-13 UBC to end the match

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CanWest Rugby 2025

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UVic Claim Canada West Conference Title; Carissa Norsten Named Player of the Year; UVic Coach Brittany Waters Named Coach of the Year

UVic claimed the Canada West title with another narrow victory over UBC. UBC are current U SPORTS title holders and are hosting the U SPORTS rugby championship which starts later this month.  UVic defeated UBC with a come from behind win, trailing by 6 points with 10 minutes remaining, they scored a try at the 74′ mark and made the important conversion to claim the Western title. The match report from CanWest is posted below.

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BC Rugby Weekend of October 11th 2025

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University Qualifier UBC Defeat TWU, Exhibition Match Valley Venom Crushed by Pacific Pride, Oakville Crusaders Junior Program on Island for Matches v Ravens and CW Taste Victory

UBC confirmed their #1 ranking as they go 4-0 in the BC University qualifying series, TWU need a massive win next weekend against UVic to qualify for the nationals. Pacific Pride dominate in the Valley with a lopsided win. The Oakville Crusaders Junior program took a double from the Ravens on Friday and Ravens edged CW on Saturday.

There are no Premier games this Thanksgiving Weekend but there are two Premier level matches taking place this weekend plus the Oakville Crusaders Junior Program are on the Island for matches with the Ravens and CW.

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University Championship Updates – October 2025

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UBC Ranked #1 in Men’s University, Queen’s Ranked #1 in Women’s University – Overview and Rankings

Both the men’s and women’s University championship are on the horizon. The women are first with UBC hosting the championship between October 29th and November 2nd. They are defending champions but have been beaten twice by UVic in the CanWest conference. They currently sit in 5th place in the national rankings, UVic are ranked 3rd with Queen’s and Laval sitting at #1 and #2.

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BC Rugby Weekend of September 20th 2025

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Coastal Cup and University Championship Qualifier UBC Defeat UVic; Coastal Cup Pride Down TWU; Full Match Videos

There’s no Premier this weekend as the Kamloops Youth 7s has the attention of the BCRU staff and BC referees. There are however two Coastal Cup matches, one which also counts towards qualification for the National University Championships being held in November. UVic, UBC and TWU play a home and away series with the top 2 teams representing BC at the University Championships. UBC have already won their first match against TWU and this will be UVic’s first qualifier match. The Pride are visiting TWU in the other Coastal Cup match.

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BC Rugby Weekend of September 6th 2025

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Coastal Cup and Men’s University UBC Crush TWU; and in Women’s University UVic Pummel Calgary

Two blowouts this weekend with UBC crushing TWU 76-0 to start their Coastal Cup and men’s University Championship qualification on a strong note and the UVic women continue their unbeaten run in the women’s University Championship qualification with a 74-10 pummeling of the University of Calgary Dinos. The UBC game video is archived below, we’ll post photos of the UVic match later today. There’s also match reports posted below courtesy of Thunderbirds and Vikes media.

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Women’s University Rugby – 2025

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UVic Upset Defending Champions UBC in CanWest Season Opener

The rugby season in BC started this Saturday with a university rivalry, UVic vs UBC. The UBC Thunderbirds are defending national title holders and go into the season as favourites as highlighted by the CanWest preseason coaches poll, listed below. Both teams have some marquee names Piper Logan from the national 7s team is UBC scrum half and Carissa Norsten playing fullback for UVic, also on the national 7s team, was World Rugby Rookie of the Year on the 7s circuit in 2023-24. This weekend it was UVic that prevailed and we have both UBC and UVic match reports posted below. Also check out Alfred_Rugby on Instagram for match photos.

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