By Jebb Sinclair: VP Loma Rugby

With the 2021-2022 season slowly fading in the rearview mirror, I thought it would be a good time for a quick end-of-season review. 

The season started under a dark cloud as we lost our Club Captain and close friend Daniel Wigley to a terrible accident. The club and players rallied together and gave each other the support we all needed but his loss is still felt, and we deeply miss him.  

We started the season with a series of warmup matches as we were waiting for the BCRU to figure out what the league format would be coming out of COVID. This gave three of our coaches (Christiaan Esterhuizen, John Ball and Mike Hall) and 10 of our Lomas players (Alex Carmel, Jalan Farris, Darragh Foley, Wes Lee, Dave Matthews, Spencer Scholnick, Devon Singh-Parhar, Thomas Viljoen, Isaac Winter and Pat Zuk) the chance to get involved with the Vancouver Wave in the newly formed Coastal Cup competition. The Wave went undefeated on the season and brought home the trophy. Great work all.

We were also joined by the Rogues this year (and for all future years!), Vancouver’s first Gay and Inclusive rugby team who play under our banner as our second 3rd Div team. Resurrected from the 2001-2009 version of the Rogues, the new vintage is stronger than ever and won their first game EVER against Abbotsford in their last game of this season. Following the win, the Rogues (and the Lomas) even got a shout-out in federal Parliament in Ottawa from the Member of Parliament for Abbotsford, who was Abbotsford’s prop on the day. A great gesture by him and I am sure the Rogues are excited to continue their new tradition of beating Abbotsford every game next year! The Rogues have blended in seamlessly with players from both squads playing in the Rogues' purple, or the Lomas' black and orange on numerous occasions. The Lomas are showing the way by being BC’s most progressive, diverse and inclusive club, long may it continue!

The Rogues’ season is not done though! On August 14th they travel to Ottawa for the 2022 Bingham Cup. They are BC’s only representatives along with 148 other teams from 83 clubs from 20 countries around the world! More info on the tournament can be found here: https://www.binghamcup.com/. The Rogues will be bringing 50+ players for the 6-game weekend, and they have been fundraising to make sure they can have everything they need and keep costs down for players. To find out how you can help, please contact vplomarugby@gmail.com  (Jebb Sinclair) or bbastyo@gmail.com (Brennan Bastyovanszky) for more information or view their Gofundme page here.

On the field, 3 of our 4 Lomas teams made the playoffs this season. The Lomas Prems lost in the quarter-finals to eventual champs UBC, while our Women and 3rds made it to the semis. Some questionable scheduling from the powers that be at BCRU saw no re-seeding after quarter finals and a tough loss away for our Women against a strong Cowichan team, and a last-play penalty by Bayside saw our 3rds bow out in what I thought was the best 3rds game I had ever watched.

Although trophies eluded us this season, the Meralomas continue to be one of the strongest clubs in BC if not Canada and we were the only club in BC to routinely field 5 teams (4 men’s and 1 women’s) every weekend. No weekend was more difficult than March 19th where we had 4 men’s teams in 3 cities at the same time, spread across Vancouver Island, the Okanagan and Vancouver! A herculean effort from our coaches, players, and exec to make sure every fixture this season was fulfilled!

We also had our first player rep the Red and White of Canada for the first time in a number of years, with Paddy Kirwan heading to Guelph over Easter to represent the U18’s.  Paddy has also been selected to join U18 Canada for their upcoming tour of Amsterdam in June.  As a 17-year-old who played scrum half for our Prems side this season, the future is bright for this kid. You could tell there was something about him early on, when days after his 17th birthday on an away game to Caps in October he took one of the hardest hits I have seen (slightly late?) and when he finally got to the sidelines still trying to catch his breath, he said, and I quote: “Oh my God, I just got smashed, that was awesome”. Good luck in Amsterdam, Paddy!

Lomas Jalan Farris and Pat Zuk also took part in a recent series of games on Vancouver Island with a Canada West squad taking on a visiting American side, and Jalan has also been selected to travel to Halifax to represent Canada West against the Toronto Arrows Senior Academy later this month, before a clash with the Atlantic Selects.

The Meralomas' upcoming 2022-2023 season is shaping up to be the best one yet, for all age groups from U5’s to our Senior Men’s and Women’s sides. With that being said, we are always looking for more volunteers for coaching and off field. If you would like to help, please email me at vplomarugby@gmail.com

With the upcoming 100th anniversary festivities set for the coming 2022-2023 season, we’ve noticed some missing contact details for anyone born in the 1970’s. We’d like to make sure we reach out to as many past alumni as possible so if you are able to help please connect with Sean Fahy at sean.fahy@scotiawealth.com

And FINALLY the Lionheart gear order is in! There will be an open house at the Meraloma Clubhouse from 11am to 12:30pm on Saturday, May 28th. Please come down and grab your gear!

Jebb Sinclair
VP of Meraloma Rugby

Sponsors List
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Meraloma Rugby 2021 – 2022 Awards

Saturday April 9, 2022

Billy Bishop Legion

Women’s Awards

Best Forward: ​​Taylor Kapaiwai

Best Back: ​​*In Lieu of Best Back, two backs were selected as Co- M.V.P.

Most Improved:​ Magenna Carlson-Rink

Most Valuable Player: ​*Co-Winners this year: ​Cassidy Gale & Bea Collier-Pandya

Player’s Player of the Year: Demi Quickfall

Dedicated to Rugby Award: Tanya Bennet

 

Men’s Awards

Premier Men

Best Forward:​ Jalan Farris

Best Back: ​​Dewi Williams

Most Improved: ​Patryk Zuk

Most Valuable Player – Dan Wigley Memorial Trophy:​ Dewi Williams

 

Premier Reserves

Best Forward: ​​Ashley Karlen

Best Back: ​​Will Perry

Most Improved:​ Cam Edwards

Third Div

Best Forward:​​ Ollie Scholnick

Best Back:​​ Ben Shaw

Most Improved:​ Steve Tien

Section Awards

Women’s Veteran Player Award:​ ​Jocelyn Muller

Men’s Veteran Player Award:​​​ Greg Royle

Women’s Captain: ​​​​Tanya Bennet & Cassidy Gale

Men’s Captain:​​​​​ Steff Evans

Comeback Player of the Year:​​​ Tanya Bennet

Toilet Seat Award:​​​​ Angus Paton

Rugby Section Member of the Year: ​​Tim Quek