MLR 2025 – Round 6
Vancouver 7s 2025
Canadian Women Finish 7th in Vancouver – Defeat USA in Final Match
It wasn’t the tournament the women’s team hoped for but they finished strong, defeating USA in the 7th/8th match, 27-10, despite missing two key players due to injury, Krissy Scurfield and Piper Logan. The try scoring trio in the final match Florence Symonds, Asia Hogan-Rochester and debutant Olivia Sarabura may give a glimpse of what lays ahead for Canada with two tournaments left, Hong Kong and Singapore, before the final in LA. Asia Hogan-Rochester was probably the player of the tournament for Canada and Florence Symonds the player of the game in the USA match, Olivia Sarabura scored a crucial try to keep Canada ahead, and she had to do it one on one against the USA defender. Olivia Apps as usual was solid on both sides of the ball.
Vancouver Sevens Invitational (VSI) 2025
Island North, Island South, Valley East Win Titles at Vancouver 7s Invitational
The tournament wrapped up with Island North Tsunami winning the U16 Girls title, Island South Tide the U16 Boys title, Valley East winning the U18 Boys title and BC Gold winning the U18 Girls title.
Canada Men’s 7s – February 2025
Canada Names 16 Players for Round Robin Series Against Japan and Trinidad & Tobago at Vancouver 7s
Canada have named 16 players for their exhibition series against Japan and Trinidad & Tobago. The Vancouver tournament will be part of the preparation for the three tournaments coming up in March/April that are part of the Challenger Series to get back on the main World Rugby 7s series.
MLR 2025 – Round One
MLR Round One Results: Wins for New England, Chicago, New Orleans, Old Glory, San Diego: Jesse Mackail Scores Two Tries as Impact Player
There were 21 Canadian players in action (out of 46) in MLR Round One, 11 starting, 10 in reserves and 25 not in action. Looking through the match stats for impact players, Mason Flesch has the high tackle count (12) for Chicago in their win over Houston. Andrew Coe was 3rd in metres made in the LA match with 62, Piers von Dadelszen was 4th in tackles made with 19 for New England. Cooper Coats was 4th in defenders beaten (2) in his match with New Orleans. Jesse Mackail made a big impact coming in as reserve hooker for Seattle and scoring 2 tries.
BC Rugby Weekend of February 15th 2025
BC Premier Make-Up Weekend: Men’s Premier Pacific Pride Dominate 2nd Half for Win Over James Bay; Women’s Premier Westshore Blank CW
It’s a make up weekend, family day weekend, but most of the games have been cancelled again due to field closures. The Ravens v Burnaby game at Jericho was a late cancellation. There’s only the one men’s Premier game, Pride v Bays, again Starlight Stadium to the rescue. The women’s Premier game Westshore v CW was moved from Westshore to CW and from Friday evening to Saturday afternoon.
Stephen Aboud Returns to Italy
Stephen Aboud Returns to Italy as High Performance Manager: Rugby Canada States Reason as “Closer to Family”
File this under more Rugby Canada mismanagement and poor decisions. After two years of wasting time in Canada and no doubt enjoying the beauty of Vancouver Island, the holiday has ended and Stephen Aboud has returned to Italy to take up the High Performance role there. Rugby Canada and former board members continue with the charade of well wishes, not wanting to own up to the fact their poor decisions have put Canada two years behind in implementing an effective high performance strategy.
Editorial: A Conversation with Ai on the BC Premier
Down the Rabbit Hole: A Conversation with Ai on BC Premier Rugby and What a Semi-Pro League Would Look Like
I started this article after the first weekend of BC Premier cancellations/postponements on Feb 1st. The match at Klahanie was cancelled due to field closures and the West Vancouver Parks & Recreation website had a terse warning, “Please note that fields damaged by play when they should not be used (as described below) may result in closure of that field for the season and potentially a fine to the league.” I had always thought the Capilano RFC owned that facility, including the field, but obviously not, it’s under the jurisdiction of West Vancouver Parks & Recreation.
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