In 2018 the Canadian Rugby Foundation funded the first year of the Canadian Rugby Club championship and it was a great success bringing together the top 4 men’s club sides from across the country. The event was hosted by the Capilano Rugby Club of North Vancouver and won by the UBCOB Ravens.

In 2019  the first Women’s Canadian Rugby Club Championship was held August 2 to 4, 2019 at Fletcher’s Fields outside of Toronto. The tournament featured four teams hailing from BC, ONT, QB & PEI.

The four participating teams, ranked from one to four respectively, were Capilano RFC, Toronto Saracens RFC, Club de Rugby de Quebec and Charlottetown RFC. Capilano and Club de Rugby de Quebec made their way to the finals with Capilano winning 34-19.

The event was made possible by sponsors and donors including Langara Fishing Lodge, Toronto Arrows, Canadian Rugby Foundation, Gilbert Canada, Aedelhard, Aptoella Rugby Apparel, TIRF, Barb Dinardo, Bill Webb and Mike Holmes. Also thanks to Fletcher’s Fields management.

The match videos, photos and results can be viewed at http://canadianclubchampionship.com/

Gold medal game photos by Jeff Chan

Bronze medal game photos by Jeff Chan

2019 CRCC DREAM TEAM

1. Mikiela Nelson (Capilano)
2. Gillian Boag (Capilano)
3. Ellen Murphy (Charlottetown)
4. Anne- Marie Boulanger Martel (CRQ)
5. Zoriana Workun (Saracens)
6. Nikki Treeantafillou (Charlottetown)
7. Fabiola Forteza (CRQ)
8. Fedelia Omaghan (Saracens)
9. Christina Burnham (Capilano)
10.Anne-Charlotte Beaulieu (CRQ)
11. Anais Gilbert (CRQ)
12. Macy Munson (Capilano)
13. Alysha Corrigan (Charlottetown)
14. Martina Alaimo (Saracens)
15. Kalie MacKinnon (Charlottetown)

Donations to the General Fund help the Canadian Rugby Foundation to support initiatives like the Canadian Rugby Club Championship.

The Canadian Rugby Foundation were again proud to be part of the Canadian Men’s University Championship, this year along with major sponsors Toronto Arrows, Langara Fishing Lodge and Growth Alchemy Group. Also thanks to individual donors Roger Gay, Chris Lasher and Mike Holmes. This competition is vital for the growth of Canadian rugby and donations to the University Rugby Supporters Fund make projects like this possible.

The UVic Vikes dethroned two time champions UBC Thunderbirds in a tight 21-20 match. The trophy is named after Spence McTavish an iconic name in Canadian University rugby. The photo below shows the University of Victoria team with their 2019 championship banner.

For more information on the tournament with results and match videos visit:

https://stingers.ca/rugby_championship/

The following is a video from the event done by ESIM.

Match Report of Final: UVic vs UBC from Concordia Stingers

The Victoria Vikes won a 21-20 thriller to dethrone the two-time defending champion UBC Thunderbirds in the gold medal game of the Canadian University Men’s Rugby Championship at Concordia Stadium in Montreal on Sunday afternoon.

Earlier in the day the Queen’s Gaels took down the host Concordia Stingers 31-22 to win the bronze medal.The championship game was decided in dramatic fashion. With Victoria out front 21-15 and no time left on the clock, UBC’s Evan Norris ran 12 yards down the right sideline to score in the corner. That made it 21-20.

Max Radcliffe had the unenviable task of taking the corner kick on the last play of the game with the championship on the line. He missed wide left.

Even before it came down to the last seconds, the two teams waged an epic battle that will go down in history as one of the all-time classic university men’s rugby games.

The Thunderbirds came out strong, going up 12-0 early thanks to tries from Dan Archer in the fifth minute and Nick Allen (convert by Jack Scher) in the 15th minute.

The Vikes refused to buckle and came back with two tries of their own to close out the first half. James O’Neill scored both – one at 25 minutes and the second in the 29th minute. Jenner Teufel connect for both converts putting his team up 14-12 heading to the intermission.

UBC regained a 15-14 advantage when Scher delivered a penalty goal in the 49th minute. The lead changed hands again in the 51st minute when Nick Caron scored a try for the Vikes and Teufel made the convert. That set the stage for the wild finish.

Victoria has earned a berth in the championship tournament in each of its three years. The Vikes were silver medallists in the inaugural competition in 2017. Last year they hosted and finished in third place.

This is UBC’s first silver medal after two straight gold medal performances.

Queen’s and Concordia also played an intense game that was decided in the dying minutes.

The Gaels had the edge through much of the early going largely due to the play of scrum half Dylan Young who scored three tries and added three converts. They were up 14-5 at halftime and had a comfortable 31-10 lead with five minutes to play.

Then Concordia made a late charge, getting two tries from Michael Laplaine-Pereira, the last coming in the 59th minute. Stan Blazkowski connected for the first convert, but missed the second. The Stingers were on a roll but ran out of time.

This is Queen’s second appearance at the national championship. In 2018 the Gaels won the silver medal.

Concordia finished fourth for the second year in a row.

Nov. 24 – Medal games

Gold – Victoria 21, UBC 20

Bronze – Queen’s 31, Concordia 22

Nov. 23 – Consolation games

5th place – Brock 26, McGill 14

7th place – Guelph 79, UNB 5

Final Rankings (original seed)

1. Victoria (3)

2. UBC (1)

3. Queen’s (2)

4. Concordia (4)

5. Brock (8)

6. McGill (7)

7. Guelph (5)

8. UNB (6)

TOURNAMENT ALL-STAR TEAMS

FIRST TEAM

1. Guerscham Mukendi – Guelph

2. Michael Laplaine-Pereira – Concordia

3. Bryce Worden – UBC

4. Michael Nwabufo – McGill

5. Benjamin Newhook – Victoria

6. Don Carson – UBC

7. James O’Neill – Victoria

8. Nick Allen – UBC

9. Dylan Young – Queen’s

10. Logan Martin-Feek – Victoria

11. Thomas Goetz – Concordia

12. Aidan McMullan – Concordia

13. Mitchell Santilli – Brock

14. Evan Underwood – Queen’s

15. Colin Lynch – Guelph

SECOND TEAM

1. Stefan Zuliani – Queen’s

2. Connor Sampson – UBC

3. Spencer Cooper – Victoria

4. Frank Carson – UBC

5. Mike Stewart – UNB

6. Zacharias Zorbas – Brock

7. Owain Ruttan – UBC

8. Nicholas Carson – Victoria

9. Fraser Hurst – UBC

10. Steven Commerford – Brock

11. Darien Hewey – Guelph

12. Flynn Heyes – UBC

13. Colm Quirke – Queen’s

14. Victory Eichie – Brock

15. Benjamin Russell – McGill

TORONTO – Following on the heels of the inaugural Canadian University Men’s Rugby Championship (CUMRC) hosted by the University of Guelph in 2017, and the 2018 CUMRC hosted by the University of Victoria, the 2019 Championship will be held November 20-24 in Montreal, hosted by Concordia University.

Concordia University – 2019 Host

Once again voted as the premier Sports Destination in Canada, Montreal is poised to host the Championship – now expanded to 8 teams – in partnership with Concordia, the City of Montreal, Montreal Tourism, the Province of Quebec, and Rugby Quebec, and with the support of Rugby Canada. A full regular season of jockeying for playoff contention and qualifying for entry into the Championship tournament still awaits, but teams in Western Canada (BC, Alberta, Saskatchewan) Ontario, Quebec, and the Maritimes (PEI, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia) have been hot on the recruiting trail, and preparing for their training camps. Will one of those teams successfully knock off two-time Champions UBC? We’ll have to wait and see, but the upcoming season promises to be a scrum-ptious spectacle.

Tournament Qualifiers

University Men’s Rugby is in a unique position in Canada – varsity programs in Ontario (OUA)and Quebec (RSEQ), varsity and club programs in the West including UBC and UVic’s membership in the BC Premier League, and Club sports in the Maritimes – but unlike Women’s Rugby, not an official U SPORTS sport…yet. It was in view of this gap in U SPORTS programming that the Canadian University Men’s Rugby Championship was developed in 2016 and had its inaugural tournament in 2017.

No longer will university men’s rugby seasons end with regional and provincial championships. Rather, all teams will have an opportunity to compete against the best university rugby teams across Canada, play for bragging rights as THE best team annually, and play an important role in the development path for Canada’s national team and the MLR including Canada’s sole member, the Toronto Arrows. Of course, the role played by the Canadian Rugby Foundation which has been the primary seed funder, and by CRF Chairman Mike Holmes who continues as a founding member of the CUMRC Organizing Committee, has been critical to our success and much appreciated.

As the CUMRC continues to growth, the Organizing Committee has also expanded its scope, with support to the first (annual) match between the Canadian University All Stars and the USA Collegiate All Americans in Glendale, CO on July 27 and the return engagement in 2020 back in Canada. Also under early development is a true national championship for University Men’s 7’s, hosted by UBC in conjunction with the Vancouver 7’s tournament in March 2020, with two national semi-final tournaments.

We wish a warm welcome to our 2019 participating teams, families, friends, and rugby fans. Bienvenue et à bientôt à Montréal!

by Jeff Chan