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

This was the first year for this competition and it was a great success bringing together the top 4 club sides from across the country. The event was hosted by the Capilano Rugby Club of North Vancouver. Funding was provided by the Canadian Rugby Foundation and title sponsor Pemberton Holmes Ltd.  Canadian rugby icon Hans de Goede led the effort as committee chair. Continue reading→

READ MORE ON THE 2019 CHAMPIONSHIP AT CONCORDIA UNIVERSITY/

The Canadian Rugby Foundation were again proud to be part of the Canadian Men’s University Championship, this year along with title sponsors Victoria Mitsubishi and Carson Automotive Group, and corporate sponsors Pemberton Holmes Ltd. This competition is vital for the growth of Canadian rugby and donations to the General Fund make projects like this possible.Continue reading→

The Toronto Inner-City Rugby Foundation (TIRF) awarded Canadian Rugby Foundation (CRF) bursaries to 8 recipients, CRF provided a grant of $15,900 to support TIRF activity in 2018. TIRF is a rugby-centred community development organization that uses rugby as a tool for social good, it focuses on over 30 of Toronto’s underserved, low-income neighbourhoods.Continue reading→

We are pleased to announce Mark Wyatt as one of our Contributing Members. Mark represented Canada 29 times from 1982 to 1991 including two World Cups. He was inducted into the BC Rugby Sports Hall of Fame in 2007 and the BC Sports Hall of Fame in 2017.  Currently owner and C.E.O. of Capital City Fire and Brewis Electric and President of Westshore R.F.C. Mark now  runs up and down canyons with Claire for fun ‎and hits a long drive and a short putt.

The inaugural Canadian Men’s University XVs Championship took place November 16-19, 2017 at the University of Guelph. The Canadian Rugby Foundation provided a grant to finance the tournament as part of its platform for developing Canadian grassroots rugby. The tournament included six teams, two from BC (UVic and UBC), two from Ontario (Guelph and McMaster), one from Quebec (Concordia) and one from the Maritimes (UPEI).

The University of British Columbia (UBC) won the tournament with a 37-12 win over the University of Victoria (UVic). McMaster came 3rd ahead of hosts University of Guelph.

from Rugby CanadaContinue reading→