In Memory Of… April 2025
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.
UBCOB Ravens – February 2025
UBCOB Ravens Launch Adopt-a-School Program
A great initiative by the UBCOB Ravens, if your club has a similar program send the media release to editor@bcrugbynews.com and we’ll share it as well.
BC Rugby League Standings – February 9th 2025
BC Rugby League Standings for Men’s Premier, Div 1, Div 2, Div 3, Women’s Premier, Div 1, Div 2
Thanks to Peter Muirhead who put together these league tables for the weekend of February 8th 2025. He’s included a playoff “snapshot” which will be updated each week as the standings change.
Rugby World Cup 2027 Updates
Georgia, Spain, Portugal, Romania Qualify for World Cup After Weekend Action – 8 Places Remain
Georgia, Spain, Portugal and Romania have all qualified for the RWC 2027 after weekend action that saw the countries secure semi-final spots in the European Championships. There are now 8 places left in the expanded 24 team World Cup in Australia. Those spots available are Pacific 1 to 3, Africa 1, Asia 1, South America 1, South America/Pacific playoff winner, Repechage winner.
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