Canada Rugby
WIND - UP WEEKEND
Caps, McKinnon, a wily veteran! CW Men’s Divvies take on Capilanos at the House of Windsor at 1:00 p.m. this Saturday. Neither team has posted a “W” to date, so the contest has the makings of a good battle. The Premier encounter will follow when two grizzled old foes grace the pitch. Caps...
Monday's Musings
CW WOMEN CLOSE THE CURTAIN Last Saturday Castaway Wanderer’s Div. 2 Women played their first 15’s game of the season against the reigning Div 2 champions, Nanaimo Hornets. The game unfolded with Nanaimo setting the tone just before the ten-minute mark, showcasing their strength from the...
Monday's Musings
(Photo, Rugby Canada.) THE THRILL OF VICTORY - JOY TO THEIR WORLD CW Premier Women’s match against Bayside was preceded by the good news from New Zealand that the NSWT had defeated France and a subsequent loss by the New Zealand Women to England, put the Canadian Women into #2 ranked...
Vikings Visit Windsor
(Photo, Wendy Norman.) UVic will bring their Norsemen and Viking teams to Windsor today to round out another triple-header. Games will be at 1:00 and 2:30. It will be like homecoming week, with the Norsemen starting five recent U18 "grads." The Vikes will have four CW boys ready as impact...
Monday's Musings
Nine Try Barrage Unleashed by Hosts A weekend’s plethora of rugby was highlighted by the final match when CW’s Men laid the gauntlet to Westshore by a scoreline of 57 – 12. This completed the brace of Premier wins over the ‘Shore, following CW Women’s earlier 31 – 26 victory. The two games...
Monday's Musings
Every picture tells a story. (Photo - Norm Le Bus) Pride Pedigree Prevails There is not much to say in favor of the home team in a seven try to one loss. Admittedly there were pockets of resistance between the scores and the second half was a pretty good effort against a “full time”...
Another Quadruple at Home
(Credit John Richardson Images) The last time the Pride & CW Senior Men Premier met, it was a close three-point win to the hosts in a very tense encounter. No points in the first forty and a Gareth Sandner penalty was the difference. This time, the Pride comes in with an undefeated record....
Monday's Musings
A moment's silence for 'Lunk' Wirachowski - R.I.P. What a weekend of rugby! The RWC ¼’s produced everything expected and then some more! A brief opinion point will be offered today. At the House of Windsor – four games – WOW! CW women went down in both of their matches, the Divvies losing to...
Monday's Musings
Man/Woman-In-The -Middle With the RWC being front and centre in the eyes and mind of every rugby fan world-wide, at the present time, so too is the man (in this case) who carries the whistle. Officiating the game of rugby has become increasingly challenging since the advent of professionalism...
ONE FOR THE AGES
Johny Sexton leaves the fray. Credit Rugby World Cup. As predicted, it was a must see! Ireland placed their strong claim to the Webb Ellis trophy with their victory over RSA last weekend. There will be a couple of other thrillers this weekend when Fiji pushes their claim for the final...
Monday's Musings
Photo credit - Dimitardilkoff, Getty Images. ALLEZ, LES BLEUS! On the BIG stages at the Rugby World Cup, it was France, Australia, South Africa, Ireland, Japan and Wales, all looking pretty sharp in their opening victories at RWC. One must give honorable mention to Fiji, playing “their brand”...
Monday's Musings
In His Dreams! Johno With Bill. Plenty of rugby news today, following the weekend’s Paris Olympics Qualifiers at Starlight Stadium. Let’s start with some old news. Canada’s Men were unsuccessful in their second match against Tonga, losing 36 – 12. Not sure that Rugby Canada can put any...
Hope Springs Eternal
(Photo credit - Rugby Canada) Three points in eighty minutes is hardly a testament for hope! That was the way it was when the NSMT met Tonga on the Island Nation and succumbed 3 -25 last week. The two tangle again on Tuesday. No mention of Izzy Folau suiting up. Not much has...
Wednesday's Ruck & Maul - A Mixed Bag
Today we share a couple of pictures provided by our Boy's Youth Director. The header is a shot of CW lads who played on the winning BC U18 team at the weekend's Western Canada Championships in Calgary. BC Boys won Gold in this one, as did their U16 counterparts, (pictured below), with a...
CANADA U23 WOMEN TAKE BRACE
CW's/UVic's, Maelle Reed, try-scorer in game #2. Today we give congratulations to our National U23 Women's team who took a pair from their U.S. counterparts this past week. The opening game saw a 24 - 5 scoreline and yesterday's game, a very convincing, 55 - 14 differential. These results...
Monday's Musings
Senior Coaching Changes for 2023-24 Season. With the proclamation of the activation of registration, the time is ripe for today’s release from the Director of Rugby, Ken Goodland. “Castaway Wanderers rugby would like to thank and congratulate Ollie Winser as he takes the next step in...
Canada Women Crush Wallaroos
(Credit WORLD RUGBY twitter feed.) The screenshot depicts Canadian scrum dominance on their way to a try late in the first half by winger, Sarah Lachance. There has been plenty of rugby news pertaining to Canadian teams during this past week, although, there is none that compares with...
Monday's Musings
(Photo - Credit, New England Freejacks)As predicted, Saturday’s brace of games was well worth the watch. The first of the two, the MRL Final between San Diego and New England, saw a large collection of overseas players battle to an enthralling...
BIG NAMES
MLR FINAL, credit - The Rugby Network Wednesday’s Ruck & Maul mentioned big named players contracted to the San Diego Legion (MLR). A local site follower reminded this writer of Michael Smith being high on the list of BIG-NAME players for the San Diego Legion in Saturday’s Final of the...
Wednesday's Ruck & Maul
Last night’s Clogher, Castaways game started with much promise. In fact, the locals had a 14 – 12 lead when an early interval was called by referee Pedrick, after CW’s Steve Pyke went down with a neck injury and concussion. Irish himself, Pyke had been quite a factor for the locals in the...
Wednesday's Ruck & Maul
Bound for the Final, Old Glory’s Doug Fraser, flat to the boards! (Credit - Rugby Network) MLR Playoffs last weekend saw three CW Alum start for Washington Old Glory in their upset win over last year’s Champs, New York Ironworkers, 37 – 33. Pictured is former CW Captain, Doug ‘Fresh’...
Wednesday's Ruck & Maul
To Be Envious Of It has always been an interesting issue to discuss, that being Seattle RFC’s inclusion in the BC Premier league! Coming up is the Annual Can Am 7’s Tournament on July 8th. This year’s host is Chuckanut Bay RFC on their amazing facility – the 17.5 acre, deWilde Fields, the...
Saturday's Bits & Pieces
It is with interest this writer has noted that the club’s, Caroline Crossley, is in the mix with the NSWT’s XV’s group of athletes, gathered for training and games. Coach Rouet will select a final squad from these forty athletes to play in upcoming matches against New Zealand (#1), USA (#4),...
Wednesday's Ruck & Maul
A Web Hiatus The Ruggernut, party of two, has just returned from completing a three-week trip across our marvellous country by train – a true bucket-list epic. During that time rugby, from a Canadian and local perspective has been far from dull! Firstly, our Men’s VII’s have qualified for...
Wednesday's Ruck & Maul
Jossiah 'Mercury' Morra in Tricolours. Jossiah lit it up in Toulouse last weekend when Canada's NSMT 7's had one of their better performances in some time. After defeating current Champions of the circuit, Australia, hopes were high, only for the air to be let out of the balloon on day...