A Visit to the Pacific Pride, aka Rugby Canada Academy, Training on Monday Evening
I drove out to Starlight Stadium on Monday evening, the Pride practice 7-9am on some days and 5-7pm on other days, the schedule helps players who are also looking to hold down an 9ish to 5ish sort of job. The Rugby Canada academy helps a bit financially but players still need some sort of income.
Attending the practice were some heavy hitters in terms of the future of men's rugby, John Tait, the Technical Director of the BCRU, was in attendance. On the field running the practice was Pride head coach, Christiaan Esterhuizen, and skills coaches Hubert Buydens and Nik Witkowski.
The photos in the right panel were shots taken during the visit, click on the image for a larger view.
What did I learn while there, these are my interpretations of what I heard, not actual quotes.
The Pride have a single round with the Premier clubs this season plus some extra games, Seattle Rugby Club are coming in October, a new item is that the Chicago Hounds academy will be coming in November, November 22nd I believe. That should be verified soon. Ontario will be sending a team in the spring.
There is a focus on U20, there are at least 6 U20 players in the roster but from I understand, elite U20 players are encouraged to train with the Pride. Talk to your coach, if he reaches out to the Pride, Christiaan or Hubert, or even John Tait at BCRU, I'm sure they'll make the connections. Players from the east could come and play for clubs and train with the Pride. If a young player wants to get noticed, there are avenues open. You can always drop me a line editor@bcrugbynews.com and I'll follow it up.
The upcoming 7s season will be interesting and I think we're going to see a diverse amount of talent on display. The one squad mentality will mean some XVs players from MLR may show up in the squad in the fall before MLR begins. Since the men's 7s team doesn't have a dedicated coach now, the Pride coaching staff may be involved more. I expect to see some Pride players and talented players competing against them on the radar. If you're playing the Pride this season, you may be under evaluation, bring your top game.
Canada have to earn their way back into the 7s circuit, first up will be RAN 7s in November, November 21-23 in Tobago I believe. If Canada win that then there will be a Tier 3 tournament in January, top 2 move on to Tier 2, and it continues from there.
The U20 scene for 2026 is still developing. World Rugby has confirmed an expanded 16 team U20 championships with Fiji, USA, Japan and Uruguay entered. It's not clear where this leaves Canada and the pathway for inclusion in 2027. There is a tournament in Chile for Tier 2 but the details haven't been released yet. The Oceania U20 tournament was a success last year in June and it appears it may go ahead again in 2026.
We're hearing now that the senior men have qualified for the World Cup there will be an emphasis by coach Stephen Meehan on identifying young players and giving them some playing time. We'll see how that pans out, Fiji and likely Tonga coming up and an article by Canadian Press indicated in November that Canada will have games against Georgia, Romania and Portugal.
Who was the fittest Pride player in practice, Jesse Kilgour. Kaden Duguid was originally signed for the Pride but had a better offer at Westshore, he's wrapping up his Alberta season first before heading to BC.
The Coast to Coast Cup in Halifax in the summer, BC will likely recommend sending either the BC Premier champion or the BC Regional champion, BC won't be sending a separate BC Bears team.
On a separate note, saw Robin MacDowell at the UVic game on Saturday and they'll be taking a youth team to NZ again in December to the Global Youth Sevens. Also the Thunder Indigenous program taking a team to the Portugal XVs tournament during spring break, talk to John Lyall about that. You can always reach out to me, editor@bcrugbynews.com, and I'll put you in touch if you don't have their contact info.
I think that about wraps it up, the Premier season kicks off this weekend. The Pride are at UVic on Saturday, I may go watch that one and take some photos. If you need some rugby balls for your program, I'll have them in the boot, just give me a heads up beforehand.
Cheers... Mark aka the Editor
Mark, I think you touch on some very important points as usual in this article. If you are a CDN player with a goal to go to RWC in 2yrs, you would be well served by playing full seasons in BC where you can play full games, train and be seen to shine amongst your peers. Instead of lofty goals of RC academies and infrastructure coast to coast going to the players, it is easier for the players to migrate west as per previous generations and play more games (80 mins and not mercy minutes) and be on the radar. All BC Clubs would benefit -and not just Island clubs- can help achieve this. More select games of Presidents XV in nature to elevate the game, more weekends where the competition is going head to head for spots.. Furthermore, I would suggest that the players who wish to play at RWC have a 2 yr window (starting yesterday) to improve their body compositions and VO2 capabilities. This means training extra sessions to do so, and improving their diets to shed bad weight. Mindset to succeed as a legit international calibre player and not just making the trip for the gear. Pride in the preparation and performance, and a lot of passion and pain to get there. The clock has begun.