BC Rugby – Vancouver, BC – June 4, 2019: BC Rugby is delighted to announce the 2019 Senior Women’s XV squads ahead of the Best of the West Tournament taking place this weekend. The two teams, BC Senior Women Blue and BC Senior Women Gold, will compete in in fixtures against two Prairie Wolf Pack sides on June 7 and 9 at the City Park Sports Field in Kelowna, BC.  The fixtures will pit the top talent from BC and Alberta head to head in an idyllic setting on the shores of the Okanagan.  

14 players from the 2018 BC Senior Women side will feature on one of the BC Rosters, while 3 players join from last year’s U20 Women’s side. Eight selected players are involved with the Canadian women’s national team, including Gillian Boag, Tyson Beukeboom, Chanelle Edwards-Challenger and Madi Gold among others. 

“Best of the West is an amazing opportunity to develop more depth in our region, play elite teams and create a high-performance program for Senior Women,” said Team BC Gold head coach Julien Canet. “The women have been training together since January working on skill development and team culture, and the team has really started to gel.” 

“I am excited to see how the new competition structure will work, merging the senior women and U20 is a great way to go,” said BC Blue head coach Dean Murten.  “The mainland team have not spent much time together as a team so the priority is to get everyone on the same page understanding some basic policy and doing the basics outstanding.” 

BC’s Blue and Gold sides will face off against Black and White sides from the Prairies Wolf Pack.  

“All the players in this competition are good rugby players so no need to spend a lot of time working on skills,” Murten added.  “The Wolf Pack will have two very strong teams and play a good style of rugby, they will be hard physical teams, we much match them in that department whilst trying to play a fast game.” 

BC Rugby are working to deliver a live stream for all four matches on the BC Rugby Facebook page (weather/internet permitting).

Schedule June 7th 4:00PM – BC Blue  vs Alberta White 6:00PM – BC Gold vs Alberta Black   June 9th 10:00 AM – BC Blue vs Alberta Black 12:00 PM – BC Gold vs Alberta White

BC Blue Roster Lyric Atchison – Vancouver Thunderbirds, (North Vancouver, BC) Brooke Bazian – Castaway Wanderers, (Kamloops, BC) Gillan Boag – Capilano, (Vancouver, BC) Christina Burnham – Capilano, (Vancouver, BC) Mackenzie Carson – UBC Thunderbirds, (Abbotsford, BC) Karina Christiansen – Capilano, (North Vancouver, BC) Kaitlyn Cumming – Capilano, (Kamloops, BC) Hunter Czeppel – Vancouver Thunderbirds, (Abbotsford, BC) Madi Gold – UBC Thunderbirds, (Merville, BC) Katie Grudzinski – Burnaby Lake, (Vancouver, BC) Gabrielle Hindley – Burnaby Lake, (Burnaby, BC) Viviana Johnson – Vancouver Thunderbirds, (Mission, BC) Kally King – Vancouver Thunderbirds, (Kamloops, BC) Natasha Lalonde – Burnaby Lake, (Surrey, BC) Heather Muir – Capilano, (North Vancouver, BC) Macy Munson – Capilano, (Kamloops, BC) Mikela Nelson – Capilano, (North Vancouver, BC) Abbie Parsons – Bristol Bears Women, (Abbotsford, BC) Emma Pfleiderer – Acadia Axewomen, (Williams Lake, BC) Ashlynn Smith – Abbotsford, (Abbotsford, BC) Emily Van Gulik – Burnaby Lake, (Vancouver, BC) Leyhana Van Vugt – Burnaby Lake, (Port Moody, BC) Jessica Vander Zaag – Meraloma, (Vancouver, BC) Tess Woldring – Vancouver Thunderbirds, (Burnaby, BC)

BC Gold Roster Ada Okonkwo – UVic Vikes, (Winnipeg, MB) Chelsey Minter – Westshore, (Victoria, BC) Nicole Shaver – Castaway Wanderers, (Victoria, BC) Elissa Alarie – Westshore, (Victoria, BC) Lauren Sargent – Castaway Wanderers, (Victoria, BC) Hazel Domingo – Castaway Wanderers, (Winnipeg, MB) Julia Folk – Castaway Wanderers, (Victoria, BC) Chanelle Edwards-Challenger – Castaway Wanderers, (Victoria, BC) Ciara Malone – Castaway Wanderers, (Delta, BC) Sara Einarson – Castaway Wanderers, (Regina, SK) Paige Farries – Westshore, (Red Deer, AB) Paula Simpson – Comox Valley Kickers, (Courtenay, BC) Sya Trafford – Castaway Wanderers, (Victoria, BC) Sabrina Poulin – Castaway Wanderers, (Victoria, BC) Camille Irvine – Queen’s Gaels, (Victoria, BC) Renee Gonzalez – Westshore, (Victoria, BC) Tyson Beukeboom – Cowichan, (Duncan, BC) Jordyn Myers – UVic Vikes, (Nanaimo, BC) Amanda Thornborough – Westshore, (Victoria, BC) Brodie Schmidt – Guelph Gryphons, (Uxbridge, ON) Alexie Pusch – Westshore, (Victoria, BC)

More information about BC Rugby

The British Columbia Rugby Union, commonly known as BC Rugby, is the governing body for Rugby in British Columbia and is a Provincial Union of Rugby Canada, the national governing body. Representing over 7,500 individuals registered through around 60 Member Clubs and Associations across the Province, BC Rugby leads and manages the sport with the aim to grow participation and develop excellence in all games of Rugby and in all facets of the sport.

 

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