An Early Look at the 2025-26 BC Premier Season: 17 Match Weekends, Double Club Round, Single Round vs Pride
Canada Match 23 Announced for Belgium Contest in Edmonton on Saturday – First Match Under New Head Coach Stephen Meehan
Canada Make 12 Changes to Starting XV for 2nd Match Against South Africa: Sophie de Goede Set to Return from Reserves
MLR Rugby – Round 15
MLR Week 15: Houston and Utah Tied in West; New England Leads East – 25 Canadian Players in Action
With 2 weeks of the regular season left, Houston and Utah are tied for points at the top of the West conference and New England tops the East conference. There were 25 Canadian players in action, 14 starting and 11 in reserves. Noah Flesch made the MLR Team of the Week for Chicago.
High School Rugby Updates – May 2025
In Touch Newsletter Issue 11 by Phil Smith – SMUS Crowned Champs in Thriller; Stags Give Reality Check to Thunderbirds
Games This Week
Sr Boys Provincial Championships Wednesday May 28 to 31. Quarterfinal Matchups:
Shawnigan v Abbotsford
Quw’utsun v Kelowna
Oak Bay v Carson Graham
Claremont v Lake City
SMUS v Argyle
Brentwood v Charles Tupper
1987 Canada RWC Squad
A Look at Canada’s First Rugby World Cup Match on May 24th 1987 vs Tonga
May 24th 1987 was Canada’s 1st Rugby World Cup match. The game was against Tonga and Canada won 37-4, it was played in Napier, NZ in front of 7,000 fans. A try was worth 4 points then so Canada scored 7 tries to Tonga’s 1, Canada added 3 conversions and 1 penalty. Scoring for Canada were winger Pat Palmer of UBCOB (2T), centre Paul Vaesen of JBAA (2T), Rowers Ian Stuart at centre (1T), CW’s Flanker Rob Frame (1T) and a penalty try. Converting was CW’s Gareth Rees (1C), and JBAA’s (later Velox) fullback Mark Wyatt (2C). Gareth Rees also added a penalty.
Women’s BC Blue vs BC Gold Series 2025 – Match #1
Island Blue Win First Match 62-7 Over Mainland Gold
A close 12-7 game at the half blew up into a 62-7 win for Island Blue as they added 50 points in the second half. Winger Jenna De Greeff notched 3 tries, Justine Blatt-Janmaat at scrum half kept the team on the front foot, Sierra Gillis (tight head), Emily Findlay (8), and Shaye Ogurek (flanker) all had strong games for the Blue forwards, in the backs Lara Wright at outside centre was a standout as was Emily Currey on the wing. Carissa Norsten was originally listed as outside centre for the Island team but didn’t suit up so Lara Wright moved from #12 to #13 and Hadley MacPherson moved from the reserves to starting #12.
Canada v Australia – Women’s Pacific Four Series 2025
Canada Thump Australia 45-7 in Pacific Four Match: Full Match Video
Canada were relentless on attack and committed on defence as they pummelled host Australia 45-7.
Scorers: McKinley Hunt (1T), Karen Paquin (1T), Laetitia Royer (1T), Krissy Scurfield (1T), Alex Tessier (1T), Fabiola Forteza (1T), Julia Schell (1T, 5C)
World Rugby Updates – May 2025
Final Qualification Tournament for Men’s RWC 2027 Set for Dubai in November; 20 Minute Red Cards Approved for Global Trial Including Women’s RWC 2025
A couple of announcements out of World Rugby this week. The men’s RWC 2027 Final Qualifier tournament will be held in Dubai from November 8-18. This is one of those news items that you hope won’t apply to Canada but it may. The Canada men’s XVs team will have 4 opportunities to qualify for the World Cup before that tournament with a win against one of the following countries this summer/fall USA, Japan, Tonga (likely), Chile (likely). Belgium, who Canada will host this summer, have already qualified for the 4 team RWC Qualifier in Dubai in November.
In Memory Of… April 2025
Celebration of Life for Brent Johnston at Windsor Park on May 24th
There will be a celebration of life for Brent Johnston at Windsor Park on May 24th. There will be drinks and food available. They are expecting a decent crowd so they are advising that besides the usual Windsor Park parking, there is extended parking at Oak Bay Marina with a short two block walk to Windsor. There will be donation jars for a fund that Brent held close to his heart. Drinks have been kindly sponsored by a variety of folks, JBAA and Cowichan each contributed kegs.
SPONSORS
