From the Editor’s Desk – November 2023

MLR 2024 League Structure Announced; Update on the National U20 and U18 Programs; MacDowell U19 to Mexico 7s

MLR have shown a bit about the 2024 season but haven’t released the schedule yet. There are a lot of questions around the U20 program and the JWRT tournament that haven’t been answered yet. There’s word that the U18 program is on the chopping block. MacDowell Rugby announce the girls team heading to the Mexico 7s.

MLR 2024

The MLR haven’t announced their schedule yet for 2024 but it’s rumoured to start in March this year. What they have revealed is there will be 3 conferences, West, Central and East. Details in the graphic below.

They’ve also revealed the playoff structure, 8 out of the 13 teams will make the playoff. Details in the graphic below.

Canada U20

We’ve been trying to find out what’s happening with the men’s U20 program. The Netherlands won the European Championship last weekend so they’ll represent Europe at the JWRT. No one seems to know where the JWRT will be hosted in 2024. The Tier 1 JWC will be hosted in South Africa. One line of thought is that Scotland might host as they didn’t get promoted as expected in 2023, Spain won the 2023 JWRT tournament, so there’s no obvious qualification pathway for Scotland to the 2024 JWRT tournament unless they host.

We still don’t know who will run the Canada U20 program, Adam Roberts was in charge but last year he indicated he wouldn’t return, now that’s up in the air, and he may return. Stay tuned for more details.

While researching the U20 issue, I came across some disturbing news that the U18 program was going to be dropped. The last two years the U18 men travelled to the Netherlands to compete in a tournament, before that there was a USA v Canada U18 tournament over the Xmas break. Again it’s stay tuned for more details.

MacDowell Mexico

While Rugby Canada seems in limbo in the junior programs, there are good things happening in the private sector. MacDowell Rugby is sending a U19 boys and girls team to the Mexico 7s. The girls team was announced today (see below), and we’ll update when the boys team is announced (updated). The tournament is December 2-3.

Posted in Editorials, Front Page.

One Comment

  1. Very sad for Canada U18 and U20 programs…if these go under, you can kiss Canadian test rugby goodbye. And IF RC gets its act together for both programs, good luck against teams even like the Netherlands (look at how far we have fallen when we will get smashed by the Dutch!) who announced their entire coaching group over a month ago and their squad at the same time. While Rugby Canada was very well represented at the University Championships this past week, none have a clue about identifying good rugby players or building a winning team. The whole lot of them is too concerned with getting free trips and free kit. #RIP Canada Rugby.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *