Canada Rugby
Talent Test - CW Vs NSMT U20
Thanks to DragonsEyeAnalysis for this utube video. (Video from U20 Camp @ SLS - Day #1) Game on. CW Vs Canada NSMT U20’s Friday Nite Lights, Westhills Stadium 7:00 p.m. k.o. Tomorrow’s game will be a good hit out for both groups. The U20’s under the whip of Jeff Williams and Ken...
Wednesday's Ruck & Maul
Official Club Photographer It takes numerous volunteers to keep a rugby club on the go. Ron Willems, our club photographer, was raised to the role of “official” when a local ref demanded his presence “outside the ropes”. We thought we would give Ron “official” status with his...
Seven's Selections
Friday last, Rugby Canada finally announced the NSMT’s 7’s selections for the upcoming Wellington and Sydney stops of the parade, virtually as the boys stepped on the plane. Good news for readers of this site was the inclusion of Luke McCloskey. Luke is a product of CW minis, age grade,...
Monday's Musings
"Rule changes will rob the game of its heroic qualities!" Website Video Feature. One of a number of new improvements on our new site is the video feature. This can be found by going under the “More” link on the menu bar or personal device “slug”. When you click on that, a drop down will...
Saturday is a Rugby Day
The “second half” opens this weekend when CW Women travel to Cowichan on Saturday. The last time these two teams met, a real contrast of styles, based on team strengths was on display. CW used their speed advantage to record the W. Since that match, Cowichan has chalked up a win...
Monday's Musings
M.M’s kicks off with a “hats off” to Doug Woolridge. This erstwhile member of the FRF has inked an interim agreement with Clermont Auvergne in the Top XIV League and the Euro Champions Cup. Dougie was one of Canada’s forwards who had a sterling RWC performance in this writer’s eyes,...
Coaching Conundrum from Club to Country
Since our last blog, NSMT’s coach, Kieran Crowley has handed in his ticket. Following a recent review, Crowley’s contract was extended for another two years with the NSMT. There has been much reported by rugby scribes across the country as well as rugby fans, in relation to the review and...
Wednesday's Ruck & Maul
The year in review to date has been quite successful for CW, with some outstanding Junior Boys results. Our U14’s won the B.C. title; U16’s placed third and U18’s also won the crown. Our U18 girls played in a 2nd successive BC final vs a strong Abby team only losing 22-5. Our newly...
2016 Kicks Off
And a Happy New Year to all ruggers and rugby fans, especially to the CW Family. CW is pleased to hear of deserved Season Honors for our own, Spencer Robinson who has been announced by Rugby Canada as the NSMT Maple Leafs Sevens coach for their upcoming tour of Argentina and Chile. ...
Monday's Musings
COMMUNITY SERVICE: Hats off to a group of CW volunteers that assisted with the Victoria Christmas Truck Parade and its tour through the Oak Bay village. That’s the CW way folk and a Merry Christmas to you. CW’s Dylan ‘Diesel’ Jones is once again having some major health issues and...
All's Not According to Hoyle
The NSMT finished day #2 at Dubai with a pair of wins to pull out the Shield title and earn three points, finishing in 13th place. The wins came over Portugal, 31 – 14 and a re-match victory over Japan, 19 – 17. Coach Middleton has stated that he did not think the boys played to their...
BARNARD CUP PREVIEW
A familiar scene from past games - surrounded by Vikes! CW heads to UVic for the second time this season and the third encounter with the undefeated Vikes, on Saturday. The Cup takes place at Wallace Field at 1:00 p.m. The Tricolours have announced their probable best available selection for...
Wednesday's Ruck & Maul
MAPLE LEAF WOMEN’S XV The women lost a tight game to England yesterday, 29 – 37. Canada led 17 – 15 at the half and pulled away to a 29 – 20 gap with not a lot of ticks on the clock. One could not tell from the Twitter feed what might have happened but the team allowed seventeen points in...
CW's FIRST FEMALE CAP
Head coach John Tait has named his squad for the opening round of the 2015-16 HSBC Women’s Sevens Series to be held in Dubai Dec. 3-4. Jen Kish will captain the team while Megan Lukan and Caroline Crossley will both make their Sevens Series debuts for Canada. “The team has been...
Wednesday's Ruck & Maul on Thursday!
Late with the blog...late with the reports! Very much after the fact, we bring you a report that CW U14 boys took a rather clinical "workshop" from a visiting Welsh team, Cyfarthfa High School, last Friday. From reports it seems rather challenging to fathom the age group parity but regardless,...
R-E-S-PE-C-T
Where else but rugby? This photo has been all-over but we show it, just in case you have not seen it. There are very few other sports where two opponents have given their all in a crucial game and one, SBW, can console his opposite number, Jesse Kriel, after the NZ defeat of RSA last...
Monday's Musings
U14 Boys: CW welcomed JBAA to the VIRU Junior league yesterday in their first (ever?) age grade U14 match. This is the Bays first attempt at this age level as far back as can be remembered and no doubt, in traditional James Bay fashion, will grow into a force to be reckoned with. It is great...
Monday's Musings
Gutted! RUGBY WORLD CUP REFLECTIONS Much of the sheen was rubbed off The Show this past weekend when Scotland was denied a heroic victory of epic proportions over the Wallabies. The issue of officiating, once again reared its ugly head but more of that later. Japan was the real highlight...
You Be The Judge
Has rugby become “over-officiated”? In days of yore it could be said that if a player “made as few errors as the ref”, he was doing okay. Then came the AR, miked to the ref; then the TMO and now, the Citing Commissioners, to reduce officiating errors to virtually nil, so much so, that even the...
RWC and 'The Minnows'
Well, after looking at point differentials in the RWC, one notes that over 13 games there was an average of 40.6 in differential spread. Announcers were regularly heard to applaud the IRB with the "narrowing of the gap" but really? Rumour of quality salaries for coaches in Tier 2 countries...
A Painful Canadian Implosion
No doubt, all readers of this blog would have watched the Canada/Romania match and have their own opinion regarding the outcome, maybe even being able to propose reasons for it. The writer will leave it at that as the clichés and comments will be many. It is only fair to mention noted efforts....
Canada Vs Romania
Well, the campaign comes to a close tomorrow for Canada and despite some excellent play against Italy, with a rather unlucky result and long stretches of what might arguably be deemed, best ever Canadian rugby, against France, the campaign will be judged solely on the outcome of this match. We...
Dream Team Week Two
Congratulations to DTH (aka 'TAG') Van de Merwe announced today on the Week #2 RWC Dream Team. DTH's tally, initiated by a sparkling, lengthy run and a combo with Hearn, thence getting the pass returned Vs Italy was debatably, the try of the tourney to date....
Les Rouges Allez-ed Pretty Good
Although it probably was a foregone conclusion, the French victory was a mere touch of icing for this pundit after two weeks of meandering in Belgium and Normandy where I experienced the genuine honesty and respect of the French people for Canadians who fought in the two wars. The French...
Monday's Musings
We start this week's article on the positive note especially on the verge of the start of the RWC (which will see high viewership from youth) and the kickoff for many club youth programs around the province. As professional sport is always front and centre in our news in North America, we...