Burnaby Lake Rugby Club - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Teams

Senior Men

BLRC fields three Senior Men's teams. The Premier XV and First XV play in the British Columbia CDI Premier League. The BLRC's Third XV, are part of the Lower Mainland 3rd Division League. Burnaby's premier XV recently finished in the quarter finals of the 2005/2006 CDI Premiership.

Senior Women

BLRC is represented in the Premier division of West Coast Women's League. In 2003, 2006 and 2008 the BLRC Senior Women won the BC Premier Women's Provincial Championship. The club also fields a Womens team in the Lower Mainland Second Division League, that focuses on player development.

Age Grade Rugby

The BLRC has a mini Rugby program (ages 5 – 12)that aims to teach young rugby players the basics of running and passing, as well as the laws of the game. The club also fields teams in the U-14, U-16, U-17 and U-19 Lower Mainland Leagues.

Club History

The Burnaby Lake Rugby Club was formed in 1994 when two Metro Vancouver rugby clubs, the Burnaby Buffaloes and the Vancouver Trojans, merged.

Because the Buffaloes played in the Fraser Valley Rugby Union and the Trojans played in the Vancouver Rugby Union, these two clubs did not have long standing rivalries, which accounted a great deal for the success of the merger. As a result of the merger the newly formed Burnaby Lake Rugby Club (BLRC) became one of the larger clubs in the Metro Vancouver Area, consistently fielding teams at the most competitive levels in British Columbia.

The BLRC also has a long standing association with Justice Rugby Club. The Justice Rugby Club is a social rugby club, that plays non-league invitational matches in Canada and abroad. The membership of Justice Rugby consists of police officers in the Metro Vancouver area and their friends. Many of these members are also members of the BLRC.

The Burnaby Lake Rugby Club first played in the Fraser Valley Rugby Union (FVRU) after the merger in 1994. However, the BLRC membership voted to join the Vancouver Rugby Union (VRU) during the 1995/1996 Annual General Meeting and the BLRC was accepted as a member of the VRU in 1996, where it has stayed a member since.

Facilities

BLRC facility consists of two dedicated match pitches and a lit practice field. The clubhouse is situated at the Burnaby Lake Sports Complex in Burnaby.

Representative Players

The BLRC has produced numerous players of distinction who have played representative rugby both in Canada and internationally.

Pat Riordan

Pat Riordan has assumed the captaincy of Canada's national rugby team. He earned his first cap as a hooker for Canada in 2003, and continues to anchor the front row, recently earning his 27th cap. As well, Pat has captained the BC Bears provincial Men's rep team. Pat has played club rugby in Wales, New Zealand, Australia and captained the Uvic Vikes to the CDI Premier Championship in 2010. Pat has trained with the national team in Victoria for the past few years, but has recently returned to the Blue and White

Mike James

Although now retired, James has played Second Row professionally in France for both Perpignan and Stade Francais. James was part of the Stade Francais teams that won French Premiership titles in 2003, 2004, and 2007. In addition, James played for and captained the French Barbarians in 2005.

James has captained the Canadian National team on several occasions and has earned a total of fifty caps for Canada. James has appeared in a total of four World Cups, his last in 2007.

Julia Sugawara

A former member of the Canadian Under-23 Development Program Julia earned her first full cap in 2004 against the Black Ferns. Since then Julia has gone on to earn 30 caps with the Canada team. Recently, she competed in her 2nd Women’s Rugby World Cup where she helped the team to a sixth place finish. She has recently returned to the BLRC after spending a year with the Saracens in London, UK.

Ryan Banks

Ryan Banks represented Canada 36 times on the national men's rugby squad. The former Team Canada captain and No. 8, played for the national team at the men's World Cup in 1999 and again in 2003. Banks played one season professionally for Bedford in England. Upon his return to Canada, he took over Head Coaching duties as well as starting on our Premier team. He is currently retired from competitive Rugby.

Colin MacKenzie

Former #8 and captain for Canada, MacKenzie now plays for the BLRC Men's Premier XV.

Maria Gallo

Originally from Argentina, Dr. Maria Gallo(Phd in Exercise Physiology from the University of Alberta) is one of Canada's most accomplished female Rugby Players. Maria's debut for the NSWT came against the USA in 1999. Since then, she has earned 55 caps in the 15's game, and 8 caps in the 7's game. She has played in 3 Womens Rugby World Cups,(Spain 2002, Edmonton 2006, England 2010) being named as Alternate Captain in 2010. She was also named Captain of Canada's team at the Womens 7's World Cup in Dubai in 2009. In addition to her contributions to our National Senior Womens Teams, Maria also represented Alberta from 2002 to 2006, and British Columbia from 2007 to 2010.

Anna Schnell

Anna Schnell has been a member of the National Senior Women's Team since November 2005. Anna earned her first cap against the USA in June 2006,and now has 20 caps to her name. She was a member of both the 2006 and 2010 World Cup squad's. At the 2010 World Cup she scored 46 points, making her the second highest point scorer of the tournament. Anna has captained the BLRC Premier Women's team for the past few years and was recently named BC Rugby's 2010 Womens Player of the Year.

External links

BLRC Home Page

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Teams

Club History

Facilities

Representative Players

See also

External links