The Island Tide v Ontario Blues match coming up Sunday at 4:15pm PT. Tide released their 28 player roster and Blues announced their 28 player travelling roster. Some interesting potential matchups.
1876 Where Rugby in BC Began: The Canteen Grounds in Esquimalt – Vancouver Island Rugby Union 150th Anniversary @JasonBeck82 @bcrugbyunion
BC Premier Finals Predictions & Rosters: Men’s Premier #1 Ravens vs #6 UVic; Women’s Premier #3 Thunderbirds vs #4 Westshore – Full Rosters All Divisions
Editorial: Men’s High Performance Rugby, Comparing USA and Canada
RugbyPass Publishes Article on USA Rugby Head Coach Scott Lawrence; Reviewing Rugby Canada High Performance Plans
RugbyPass, owned by World Rugby, published an article on Scott Lawrence, the USA head coach (and GM), this week. It’s worth a read, it outlines his plans for the men’s XVs rugby program and how the U20 and U18 teams fit into that picture. It also talks about the results he’s getting, 3 wins in November against good teams, Portugal, Spain, Tonga, raising USA to #15 in the world rankings.
Rugby Canada Hall of Fame 2024
Rugby Canada HOF Committee Name Nine Inductees for Class of 2024: Eddie Evans, Ed Fairhurst, Barbara Mervin, Ian Hyde-Lay, DTH van der Merwe, Rick Powers, Joyce Henry, Colette McAuley, John Hutchinson
Congratulations to the nine 2024 Hall of Fame inductees. Their profiles are linked below but I have favourite memories for several of them who I’ve crossed paths with in the rugby world.
BC Bears Update – January 2025
BC Bears Summer Schedule for Senior Women, U19 Men & Women, U17 Boys & Girls, U15 Boys & Girls
The BCRU released its summer schedule for the BC Bears provincial teams. The one group missing is the senior men and it highlights the holding pattern men’s high performance rugby in Canada is currently in. The issue largely goes back to a lack of direction from Rugby Canada on the men’s high performance pathway.
Community Rugby in Action
UVic Vikes Men’s Rugby Hosts “Vikes Giving Day” Blood Drive on February 5th 2025
I received a nice note from Ian Smith, one of the UVic Vikes rugby players who is also their fundraising lead. It’s about their Blood Drive initiative to support Canadian Blood Services while also supporting UVic sports through pledges. You can read the note below which has links to their pledge form and the Canadian Blood Services donor form. Last year over 60 student-athletes and friends donated blood and they reached 127 pledges, a number they hope to exceed this year.
MacDowell Rugby Academy – January 2025
Interview with Robin MacDowell on the MacDowell Academy and Release of the MacDowell Performance App
BCRN: Hi Robin, I saw you released a new training app called MacDowell Performance, it’s powered by Athlete Health First. Before we get into the app let’s talk about Athlete Health First, I understand there’s an interesting history there with the company and the founder.
BCRU Updates – January 2025
BCRU “Parts Ways” with CEO David Newson: John Tait to Serve as Interim CEO
I never met David Newson, which is unusual in my role as editor of BCRN, I knew and met all the previous CEO’s but Newson seemed like the type of person who did the obligatory glad handing but never reached out beyond that. He didn’t seem very ambitious in growing rugby in BC. Here’s the article we put up when he was hired in 2022.
HSBC SVNS Perth – January 24-26
Pools Drawn for Perth: Canada in Pool with USA, GB, Fiji
The Canadian women will be in a pool with USA, Great Britain and Fiji in Perth. USA sit in 4th place with a 2nd place finish in Cape Town, GB are in 5th place, Canada in 7th place and Fiji in 11th place. The top 8 teams avoid the relegation tournament in LA and compete for the title. There are 3 more tournaments after Perth and before LA, they’re Vancouver, Hong Kong and Singapore.
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