PRO Rugby and the CRC

Canada won’t have a team in PRO Rugby for 2016, but it will have a revamped Canadian Rugby Championship (CRC). The competition has had its ups and downs over the years – odd scheduling, questionable commitment, and even tribal warfare with the BC rugby union – but it remains the flagship domestic competition and the only stepping stone between club and international rugby. With the announcement that contracted 7s players will no longer be considered for the national senior men’s XVs side and overseas pros – as ever – at the mercy of their employers, all of a sudden the CRC’s importance as a selection vehicle has increased dramatically.

The 2016 CRC schedule has been released, and with it the announcement that Johnsonville will become the title sponsors of the competition for the new season. The American sausage company has a long history of sports sponsorship, most notably with NASCAR, and sponsored the CRC champion Prairie Wolf Pack in 2015. New sponsorship provides much-needed funding to the competition, something that should – in theory – increase media visibility. Notably, CRC Chairman Gord Sneddon intends to have all games available to watch over the internet.

“The plan is to stream all games this season, and we’re working hard to achieve that. Johnsonville coming on board as a sponsor is a tremendous step forward. We truly appreciate their support and look forward to providing them a high quality product from the teams that they can build upon.”

This year’s competition returns to a round-robin league format, but increases only to four games each as opposed to its previous incarnation as a full six-game schedule. With last year’s two-game tournament taking place Calgary, it’s the western teams – the Wolf Pack and BC Bears – who will do the bulk of the travelling. Each will play three away games, while the eastern sides – the Atlantic Rock and Ontario Blues – will only travel to their eastern opponent. Sneddon says the latest format is designed to support the national senior men’s program as efficiently as possible, and the season will have other surprises.

“Budget is always a consideration but wasn’t the only one. 2016 will see a significant increase in high performance games for all of the domestic players. That welcomed increase in competition meant late June into July was the effective time slot available for the competition.

“Something you should expect to see are games outside of the competition window against high quality overseas opponents. Those games are being finalized now, and I look forward to them being confirmed early in the New Year.”

While various names have been passed around behind the scenes, one that looks a near certainty is England Counties, who are set to arrive in a cross-country tour against three CRC sides. Other names that look likely are New Zealand provincial side North Otago and Irish first division club Cork Constitution. All told the teams can be expected to play 6-8 games this year.

Let’s not brush over the spectre that has emerged from the announcement of PRO Rugby. Expectations from the new competition are gargantuan. While there is absolutely reason to be optimistic, there are also good reasons why Canada is not taking part in year one.

Firstly, there are bigger problems to address. New GM Jim Dixon has barely been on the job for six months, there’s no CEO in place, a new Chairman is coming in April, and the Kieran Crowley review has only yesterday been resolved, at least for another 18 months or so. There’s a World Sevens Series event coming to Vancouver, a new Americas Rugby Championship just weeks away, and that’s not to mention the Olympics. The plate is already full and overflowing.

Second, there are too many questions. While the locations of the teams are mostly known by now, only two have been officially announced and only one coach is in place. Visa’s haven’t been arranged. We don’t know salaries. We haven’t heard anything concrete about broadcasting – internet or television – and the website is basically just a poster at this point. Most importantly, there were no guarantees offered to Rugby Canada that they would have any input into the rosters of any proposed team.

We all want PRO Rugby to succeed. It’s in everyone’s best interests, and there’s every reason to think that if it does, there will be Canadian teams involved in 2017. If professional rugby is going to succeed on American shores, it needs Canada, and Canada needs it.

So where does the CRC fit in?

It seems logical that if PRO Rugby were to expand north, it should build on existing infrastructure. Canada already has four ready-made programs that could be up to speed relatively quickly as opposed to entirely new entities. Sure, there will need to be concessions. Team names might have to be altered – think Vancouver Bears instead of BC – and there are some other logistical issues, not least in the east, but nothing that couldn’t be resolved if the funding and will to succeed was there. This idea is certainly not lost on the CRC and Sneddon admits that they are interested.

“The development of professional rugby in North America is something we are keenly interested in. It was great to hear directly from Steve Lewis [PRO Rugby Operations Director] at the recent CRC meeting and we had a productive, open conversation.

“Are we interested? Absolutely, and we will be watching closely to see how it develops and what options may become available. Something I personally think would be great to achieve in 2016 would be for the winner of the PRO Rugby competition to play against the winner of the Canadian Rugby Championship. That would make for an exciting event, would it not?”

The offer has been extended to PRO Rugby to hold a North American Cup match at the conclusion of their regular seasons, but as of yet there has been no response. The Ontario Blues have also offered up a pre-season exhibition match to one of the PRO Rugby sides. Again, no response to date.

All signs point to a pivotal year for the sport in North America. There’s no telling what the Olympic exposure might do and rugby’s popularity appears to be on a steep upwards curve. In a perfect world it all comes off without a hitch – the CRC standard improves markedly, PRO Rugby comes through, and by this time next year we’re looking at the start of a new life for North American rugby. Wishful thinking? Absolutely. The alternative just doesn’t sound very appetizing.

 

ATLANTIC ROCK

Sat, June 4	vs Ontario Blues	Toronto, ON
Sat, July 2	vs Ontario Blues	St. John’s, NL
Thurs, July 21	vs BC Bears	St. John’s, NL
Sun, July 24	vs Prairie Wolf Pack	St. John’s, NL

 

BC BEARS

Sat, July 2	vs Prairie Wolf Pack	Calgary, AB
Sat, July 9	vs Prairie Wolf Pack	Victoria, BC
Thurs, July 21	vs Atlantic Rock	St. John’s, NL
Sun, July 24	vs Ontario Blues	Toronto, ON

 

ONTARIO BLUES

Sat, June 4	vs Atlantic Rock	Toronto, ON
Sat, July 2	vs Atlantic Rock	St. John’s, NL
Thurs, July 21	vs Prairie Wolf Pack	Toronto, ON
Sun, July 24	vs BC Bears	Toronto, ON

 

PRAIRIE WOLF PACK

Sat, July 2	vs BC Bears	Calgary, AB
Sat, July 9	vs BC Bears	Victoria, BC
Thurs, July 21	vs Ontario Blues	Toronto, ON
Sun, July 24	vs Atlantic Rock	St. John’s, NL