Video Replay of 2018 Men’s Canadian Club Championship at Klahanie: UBCOB Ravens vs Brantford Harlequins
It’s late Thursday and on a slow rugby news day I’m calling the #TBT option, Throwback Thursday. It all started when RugbyPass the news site owned by World Rugby ran an article on club championships around the world, you can read the article here. It was titled, “Every champion in club rugby across the world in 2024/25”, of course Canada wasn’t mentioned, it mentioned South America, USA, Portugal, Spain, Italy, France, England, Netherlands, Ireland, Wales, Germany, Romania, Georgia, Argentina, Japan, South Africa, NZ… but not Canada.
One of the reasons is we don’t have a national club championship. I put out a trivia question on X, “when was the last Canadian Club Championship held (mm/yy), who won it and where was it played?”. The first reply referenced the RCSL, Rugby Canada Super League, which wrapped up 2008. That was really regional rugby not club but it would have made the article, I’m sure, if it was still operating. The answer was October 2018, UBCOB Ravens, Klahanie Park. The men’s Canadian Club Championship lasted one year, the women held it in 2019 in Ontario, and that was it. It was funded by the Canadian Rugby Foundation but the money was allocated elsewhere in subsequent years and the competition concept faded away.
I remember it well as I came over from the Island, stayed at a motel close to Klahanie, setup the live stream and manned the camera for the four match tournament. It’s a shame it didn’t continue. I’ve posted below the following, Peter MacDonald’s 2018 match report, my pregame notes with rosters, the archive of the match itself and the tournament Dream Team.
What are your thoughts on what a senior national championship should look like going forward, we’ve tried it at the provincial, regional and club level. Money of course is a big factor. Look forward to some thought provoking comments.
October 7th 2018
match report by Peter MacDonald
On a cool wet Thanksgiving Sunday in North Vancouver the Canadian Rugby Foundation hosted the national club final, the first to be held in many years, at a well-attended Klahanie Park. It was a BC versus Ontario tilt as the Ravens had defeated the Fredericton Loyalists and Brantford had defeated the Edmonton Nor’Westers in the Friday semi-finals.
After Raven lock Cam McWilliam drove in from close range in the early going for a 7-0 Raven lead the Harlequins took over possession and territory for most of the next 35 minutes. Their big punishing forwards kept up the pressure in both the loose and the sets and veteran fly half Steve Piatek ran an effective hi tempo backline. But it was the Ravens who tacked on two more tries before the half with the very limited ball they had. At 15 minutes, after a No 8 pick by Conor Hamilton, a ruck and a second straight run from lock Brian Moylett, Moylett in a stand up tackle turned the ball inside left with his right hand to scrum half Jordan Sandover-Best who was running a good line off the ball. The Brantford forwards were retreating from the set and their inside backs were occupied in the tackles, so Sandover-Best had nothing but daylight and he outran the cover defence for a 60 metre try. And in the last sequence before the half, from a lineout, the Ravens shifted the ball wide right to winger Sean Ferguson whose well weighted chip kick was fielded off a difficult bounce by fullback Aaron McLelland who had sped past the last defender to register a backbreaking try, 24-3 at the half.
The real story of the first half though was the Raven team defending which turned the Harlequins away time after time. At one point near the end of the half Brantford had three five metre set scrums in a row. Good tackling led by Kol Henrikson, Nathan Kendrick and Jessy Lee kept the attack at bay and in the third set the Ravens forced a penalty against the Harlequins which eased the pressure with a clearing kick. The half time score was a real head scratcher for the visitors who appeared to be the stronger side in many respects.
Possession in the second half was even but again it was only the Ravens who crossed the line. Moylett picked up a ball knocked on in the tackle after a big hit by Dim Gotsopoulos and ran it in with few defenders in sight. McLelland again outran a defender to chase down a grubber this time from Connor Braid. And finally Braid took a hole and passed to Kol Henrikson for a ramble down the left sideline for the last tally.
Both teams subbed fully in the last 20 minutes as Brantford gradually accepted the outcome no matter how frustrated they may have felt. To quote myself from a match report written two weeks ago “the game didn’t look particularly one sided but the score doesn’t lie I guess.” (That game was against Burnaby in Premier league play and, as in this game the score was 24-3 at the half, and six tries were scored, three in each half. Only the final scores differed, it was 46-3 versus Burnaby.) The real commonalities were the Ravens’ stout defence and their capitalizing when opportunities to score presented themselves.
Credit must go to the coaches who handled excellently the logistics of a 30 man squad with two guest players and a number of recent new players to the club. The planning for two games over three days with a view to team tactics, player fitness and positioning is not a casual enterprise. They got it right. Much credit also to Jorden Sandover-Best who was the only Raven player to go 80 minutes in both games, ran all day both days, bounced back from more than one big hit and was voted Best Back of the tournament. What a big heart he showed. Thanks to the guest players Nakai Penny and Connor Braid who both put in top notch performances. Welcome to Conor Finn, Brian Moylett and Jessy Lee who debuted for the Ravens in this tournament and stood out.
Thanks to the Capilano club, the Canadian Rugby Foundation and the visiting teams for a great weekend. It was nice to see the legendary Canada captain, Hans DeGoede, working the till and greeting people at the entry area and presiding over the festivities. He is, like everyone else at the Foundation, a volunteer working at the grassroots level to further Canadian rugby and provide opportunities to players where needed. Looking forward to next year if we get the chance.
Day Two Matchups: Frederiction Loyalists v Edmonton Nor’Westers 2pm; Brantford Harlequins v UBCOB Ravens 4pm
Championship Match 4pm
Brantford Harlequins v UBCOB Ravens
In the front row the Ravens have brought Nathan Kendrick into a starting role from the bench at hooker. Bryce Blair at tighthead has been replaced by Curtis Delmonico, Blair had problems handling Loyalist loosehead Brennan Foley in the semi-final. It’s a new second row with Cameron McWilliam and Brian Moylett replacing Jon Phelan and Jessy Lee. Jessy Lee moves to blindside while Nakia Penny moves to the bench. David O’Donaghue replaces Jon Phelan as captain and moves into the openside role replacing Dan Cervino who moves to the bench as hooker replacement. Conor Hamilton remains at #8.
The Ravens backline looks more stable with Sean Ferguson, Aaron McLelland, Jorden Sandover-Best, Lavu Vallabh retaining starting spots. Braid moves out one to outside centre and veteran Kol Henrikson takes the #12 spot. Jeff Vyres replaces winger Graham Turner. Chris Taylor, the former Ireland U20 prop, moves into the bench as replacement prop.
For the Harlequins the forward pack remains the same, a slight change to the backline where Fitzsimmons moves from centre to the wing, Hugh McDonell moves from the bench to centre.
Ravens
1 Dim Gotsopoulos
2 Nathan Kendrick
3 Curtis Delmonico
4 Cameron McWilliam
5 Brian Moylett
6 Jessy Lee
7 David O’Donaghue (c)
8 Conor Hamilton
9 Jorden Sandover-Best
10 Lavu Vallabh
11 Jef Vyres
12 Kol Henrikson
13 Connor Braid
14 Sean Ferguson
15 Aaron McLelland
16 Dan Cervino
17 Chris Taylor
18 Benji Couling
19 Harry McBryde
20 Nakai Penny
21 Jake Wolfman
22 Robert Jones
23 Conor Finn
Harlequins
- Cullen Fawcett
- Dave Neill
- Graeme Mahar
- Tom Van Horne
- Josh Van Horne
- Kolby Francis
- Lucas Mcivor
- Graham Mckelvey
- Adam Schouten
- Steve Piatek
- Connor Fitzsimmons
- Jordan Kozina
- Hugh Mcdonell©
- Joe Newman
- Rory Mcdonell
- Tyler Mirco
- Dave Mclean
- Paul Auzins
- Casey Bouk
- Adam Maahs
- Janusz Mcneill
- Nate Boeyenga
- Walsham Owen
Consolation Match 2pm
Frederiction Loyalists v Edmonton Nor’Westers
The Nor’Westers make one change in the front row with McMillan coming into hooker and Brown moving from hooker to loosehead. The second row remains the same and one change at blindside with Robert McInnis getting the start. In the backline Graham Thompson gets the start at inside centre and Austin Pinnel comes into the wing position.
The Loyalists go into the second game with slightly changed lineup. Mike Loney comes into the blindside spot, Brent Rowney takes over the #10 duties, moving James Mitchell to wing, and James Duguid moves from wing to outside centre.
Loyalists
- Brennan Foley
- Curtis Lauzon (c)
- Andy Nash
- Eric Plant
- Zach Fitch
- Mike Loney
- Shawn Rivoire
- Austin Comeau
- Johnny Cullen
- Brent Rowney
- James Mitchell
- Emil Sehic
- James Duguid
- Andy Sandford
- Eric Duplessis
- Brendan Landine
- Johnathan Valema
- Nathan Ginson
- Blake Edwards
- Mark Mitchell
- Charles Doak
- Mike Thurber
- Kyle Legresley
Nor’Westers
- Gareth Brown
- Andrew McMillan
- Simon Miller
- Anthony Kovacic
- Jeff Berg
- Robert McInnis
- Derek (Kyle) Morrison ©
- Aidan Holland
- Bryan George
- Harry Boyd
- Jonathan Frater
- Graham Thompson
- Oscar Frater
- Austin Pinnell
- Cory Billen
- Abrie Cilliers
- Trevor Leota
- Thomas Winter
- Paul Kolida
- Josh Wilson
- Kyle White
- Adam Roer
- Blake Maday
Match Video
Tournament Dream Team
