Americas Rugby News Rugby news from across the Americas!
In a match that will pique interests from both sides of the border, the Glendale Raptors are heading north to play the Ontario Blues in Burlington on May 20. The Blues are defending MacTier Cup champions, winning five of the past six Canadian Rugby Championships, while the Raptors are undoubtedly one of the premier clubs in the USA having won back-to-back Pacific Rugby Premiership titles in 2015 and 2016.
Perhaps more notable is that Glendale is now a professional outfit, and one of the driving forces behind the Major League Rugby initiative, a new elite level club competition coming to the USA in 2018. With the CRC receiving little support from Rugby Canada the individual teams themselves have been forced to look elsewhere to find more fixtures, and while the opportunity to join PRO appears to have come and gone, there is speculation that the four Canadian regional sides could look to join forces with MLR.
Of course MLR have yet to make a formal announcement and match play will not begin until next year, but that has not prevented the rugby community from taking note of what could be an exciting new venture in American rugby. Glendale’s recent match against the Austin Huns was streamed live and its impressive production quality (and that of others) was not lost on observers as a possible template for the startup competition. Diana Anderson, Media Chair for Rugby United Marketing (LLC extension of MLR), did not rule out the possibility of Canadian sides competing against MLR clubs in the future.
“We have had internal discussions about the possibility of including international teams, and would be happy to see Major League Rugby evolve in that direction over time. Our structure is such that it would be difficult to include a purely amateur team but we would be happy to explore other possibilities as they arise.”
Given the huge amount of travel that would be required and its associated costs, even participating as an amateur or semi-professional team in the league – as Richmond do in the Greene King IPA Championship – seems prohibitively costly without major sponsorship independent of the cash-strapped Canadian rugby union. A starting point, however, might be for CRC teams to play three or four ‘friendlies’ against MLR sides, and there is every possibility that a long-mooted ‘North American Club Final’ will finally come to fruition with the winner of the CRC playing against the MLR champion in 2018. The match in Burlington isn’t far off that idea, albeit at the wrong end of the season.
The Blues will also play against familiar friends Old Blue in New York on April 29. Old Blue are not part of the MLR concept, with no American Rugby Premiership sides thus far committing to the startup, but they are among several high profile clubs on the US coastline that will be keeping a keen eye on developments.
May’s match-up will be intriguing on many levels and not least the action on the field. Glendale’s roster draws heavily on the Denver Stampede, PRO champions in 2016, with ARC Eagles Ben Tarr, John Quill, Shaun Davies, and Will Magie all set to feature. Their captain is World Cup hooker Zach Fenoglio and there are a handful of others like Will Holder and Chad London with recent international experience.
The Blues should have Canadian ARC members Rob Brouwer, Lucas Rumball, Kainoa Lloyd, and Rory McDonell in their lineup alongside the likes of Tom Dolezel, Andrew Ferguson, and Derek Daypuck. Other current internationals such as Eric Howard and Dan Moor could be involved, while Canada ‘A’ loose forward Seb Pearson is set to make his return after a year out with injury.
Despite its ‘friendly’ designation, it’s not outrageous to suggest this might be the most anticipated domestic match on the 2017 calendar for North America. As it stands the future of the CRC might well lie south of the border rather than on increasingly infertile Canadian soil.
