Evening all, 

Finally I think the warmth is coming and colour is returning to Ottawa which can only mean one thing, the city will open their fields soon and we will get back to Rowan’s Pitch. Keep a close eye on your team messages, as we have had some last minute changes for training times this week and your coaches may be sending updates. 

Saturday saw the senior men have their first exhibition game against Lindsay RFC. Of the 37 registered players, 27 were able to play and the team shows great promise for the season ahead. I am also thrilled to see that we have 22 senior women registered which is fabulous, I am so excited for their season to start. In all, we currently have 337 players and 36 coaches registered which is a phenomenal start to the season. Go Scottish!!!

Coaching News 

See the Barrhaven Coaches with a starring role in this YouTube video.

Thank you and farewell to Jenna Elward, our minors coach. Jenna became an integral part of the Minors family four years ago, when coaches recognized her knack for calmly and effectively wrangling our youngest athletes. Jenna brings energy, fun and creativity to her coaching duties. Always present and willing to put in the extra effort, she was was ready after practices to hand out freezies to the kids and played an important part of the inauguration of our Minors Fun Day. Although Jenna is stepping away from coaching, she will always be a part of the Scottish family. Thank you, Jenna for your contribution to the success of our Minors program.

Community in Schools

Thank you to Arjan Brem and Tom Rorke who completed our first Coaching in Schools “Introduction to Rugby” event at École secondaire publique Omer-Deslauriers, which was a huge success. 

“It was a pleasure! Definitely looking forward to redoing this experience and I’ve shared this activity with Pierre-de-Blois.” (Maxime Lacroix, PE teacher)

Congratulations

Grace Dingwall, Shondreya Smarden, Maggie Grills and our senior men’s assistant coach Aaron McDonald attended the Rugby Canada (RC) Senior Women’s/U18 7s Next Gen camp in Ottawa this weekend.

Grace worked with the senior women, while Dreya and Maggie worked with Next Gen 7s and Aaron helped the 7s group. 

After the try out, two of the RC coaches, Darrel (Devo) Devine and Brandon Thomas, joined the U18 girls at their practice and were really impressed with the quality of the players and what we are doing as a club. Great work, everyone. 

Congratulations also goes to Bronwyn, Lauren, Ellie, Camryn, Grace, ShonDreya, Tillie, Grace and Shyla who were selected for the EORU U19 girls and to Jack, Pike, Fraser and Thomas who were selected for the EORU U19 boys. 

Barrhaven Scottish Rugby Club mourns loss of coach Felix Oloo

The Barrhaven Scottish family extends their condolences to the family and friends of Felix Oloo who coached our Senior Men’s team in 2022. Felix was the former coach of the Kenya Lioness team, then coached with the Barrhaven Scottish before he moved to the USA, where he was recently killed in a traffic accident.

Important Dates

October 4 – “Canadian Cancer Society CIBC Run for the Cure” 

I know it is a few months away but on this Mother’s day, I have created a BSRFC team and encourage as many of you as possible to donate and/or join the team to Run for the Cure, lets show the strength of our rugby community. To join, follow the link http://support.cancer.ca/goto/BSRFC

Canada vs England – October 23, 2026 – 7 p.m. at TD place.

We are waiting for details from Rugby Canada on how we can book group tickets. I will keep you updated when I hear more. 

Have a great week everyone

Anne