Canadian Howlers Rugby Club at SIC Rugby Club
Final Score: Howlers 12 – 22 SIC & Casi Combines
Game Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?
At 8:00 pm in Buenos Aires, the Canadian Howlers Rugby Club (the “Howlers”) played a combined SIC & Casi U18/U19 side in a cool, windy, and physical match. At half, the Howlers held a tight lead of 7 – 5.
The Youth Olympics first started in 2010, it’s focused on U18 athletes. Rugby 7s was introduced in 2014 in China and continued on in Argentina in 2018. The 2022 Youth Olympics were scrubbed due to COVID disruptions and now Senegal are hosting in 2026. Canada have won medals in 2014 and 2018, both by the women’s U18 team, Silver in China and Bronze in Argentina. This is the first time the Canadian U18 men have been entered in the Youth Olympics Rugby 7s. The Canadian women are not entered, the USA women are the only entry from the Americas region.
There are a couple of U18 events overlapping in August. The Canadian Howlers, formerly the Dog River Howlers, are taking an elite team of Canadian U18 players to Argentina for three matches. Their program is linked below. Also Rugby Canada are holding U18 camps for men and women. The Howlers itinerary, roster and full tour program are listed below. Also the names of the players attending the Rugby Canada camps are listed below.
I was browsing through Linkedin and came across this interesting post by Bob Skinstad on South African high school rugby. It was a map of which high schools produce the most Springboks. It had me thinking about Canadian high school rugby factories, which high schools produce the most Canadian internationals (XVs)? That picture changes over time but I thought I’d at least broach the subject as I don’t think Rugby Canada or the provincial unions track that information. I’ve started a basic list for BC and hopefully readers will help add to the list, I’ll also reach out to some school administrators to see if they maintain comprehensive lists from their school.
The regional U17 girls rugby 7s wrapped up at the BC Summer Games on Sunday. Fraser River won Gold, Island won Silver and Fraser Valley won Bronze. Fraser River is the Burnaby/Surrey area and Fraser Valley is the Abbotsford/Langley area. In the top 4 semi-finals it was Fraser River defeating Fraser Valley 20-10 and Island defeating Okanagan 22-5. In the medal games it was Fraser Valley over Island 22-5 for Gold/Silver and Fraser Valley over Okanagan 22-17 in the Bronze/4th match. Finishing 5th were Vancouver, 6th Cariboo, 7th Kootenays and 8th Northwest. Overall at the games Vancouver won 122 medals (43 gold, 45 silver, 34 bronze) and Island won 121 medals (44 gold, 39 silver, 38 bronze), finishing top two, the winner depending on whether you count total medals or gold medals.
It wasn’t to be the day for BC as they lost both final matches against Ontario on Sunday. The women came close, leading for most of the match but giving up two tries in the last 5 minutes to lose 17-7. The men were defeated 44-12 and trailed in the match from the beginning. Jack Gore the Ontario #10 and team captain scored 29 points. The BC U17 teams wrapped up their 3 game series on Saturday, Ontario won both matches. The bright spot for BC were the U17 women who, despite losing Saturday’s game, won the series against Ontario with 2 wins and 1 loss. The BC U17 men had a record of 1 win and 2 losses. Kudos to host Ontario who claim the title of top province this year in age-grade rugby. We haven’t heard where next year’s tournament will be held yet.
Canada may not have a senior national championship representing all regions anymore but the annual U19 national championships continue with teams from BC, Alberta, Ontario, Quebec and Atlantic. That championship takes place in Guelph starting next Monday. Below are the BC rosters for U19 men and women, BC are also sending U17 boys and girls teams to challenge Ontario directly in a three game head to head series, the winner claims the O’Neills Challenge Cup. Those rosters are also included below in the BCRU media release.
The Island Tide won both the men’s and women’s U19 titles at the Provincial Regional Championships. The women defeated Fraser Valley 23-17, the match was 18-17 in the Tide’s favour at the half and they added one more try in the second half. It was another Island vs Valley final in the men’s competition. The Island led 14-7 at the half and ran out 33-12 winners in the end. The Island claimed the overall PRC title with three 1st place finishes and three second place finishes. Valley were 2nd overall, Vancouver 3rd, Interior 4th.
We’ve put together a list of summer rugby camps, we’ll keep updating the list throughout the summer. If you know of a summer rugby camp in BC, tag us on social media with the poster, Instagram is the best choice, @bcrugbynews – or add a link and description in the comment section.
Collingwood claimed the AAA Gold with a hard fought 22-17 win over Robert Bateman. St. George’s claimed Bronze with a 24-3 win over Shawnigan.
Gold Match Video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPskOzf4eqo
Yale claimed a comprehensive victory in the girls XVs final defeating Shawnigan 36-3. The video is below.