about

History of This Championship

The Canadian University Men’s Rugby Championship was developed in 2016 and saw its inaugural tournament in 2017. While there were numerous corporate sponsors involved, the primary financial sponsor was the Canadian Rugby Foundation, with its Chair Mike Holmes one of four founders, along with long-time University of Victoria coach  Doug Tate, Bishop’s University alumnus Keith Labbett, and current Foundation Executive Director Jeff Chan. Prior to 2017 there had been no national championship for University Men’s XVs Rugby, as there is for Women under the U SPORTS umbrella, so the CUMRC was established to fill that gap, and has also encouraged additional university teams to step up and compete to represent their regions.

An application has been submitted to U SPORTS to add Men’s XVs Rugby to its portfolio of national university sports, and a decision on this is expected in the summer of 2022.

HISTORY

The Canadian University Men’s Rugby Championship was developed in 2016 and saw its inaugural tournament in 2017. While there were numerous corporate sponsors involved, the primary financial sponsor was the Canadian Rugby Foundation, with its Chair Mike Holmes one of four founders, along with long-time University of Victoria coach  Doug Tate, Bishop’s University alumnus Keith Labbett, and current Foundation Executive Director Jeff Chan.

Prior to 2017 there had been no national championship for University Men’s XVs Rugby, as there is for Women under the U SPORTS umbrella, so the CUMRC was created to fill that gap, to encourage additional university teams to step up and compete to represent their regions, to deepen the university rugby talent pool and to ultimately improve the calibre of Canadian rugby at the senior level.

An application has been submitted to U SPORTS to add Men’s XVs Rugby to its portfolio of national university sports, joining Women’s Rugby and a decision on this is pending.

20191124-UBCvsUVic-1017-300x200
The trophy at the CUMRC tournament was named for Spence McTavish, a long-time UBC player, coach, general manager and university rugby supporter.

TEAMS

Since 2017 when 29 teams in 4 regions across Canada competed to qualify for the CUMRC tournament, the number of teams has grown gradually each year to the point where 33 teams in 5 regions – BC, Prairies, Ontario, Quebec and Atlantic –  will be competing to qualify for the 2023 CUMRC tournament hosted by Trinity Western University in Langley BC. New in 2022 were the Carleton Ravens and Memorial Sea-Hawks, and in 2023 are the York University Lions, and we are working to add additional programs – who are already competing at a non-varsity level – to our qualifying pool of teams.

RESULTS

Hosted by the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, BC

Gold – UBC
Silver – McGill
Bronze – Guelph

Host Announcement

More at 2022 CUMRC

Hosted by Queen’s University in Kingston, ON

Gold – UBC
Silver – UVic
Bronze – Queen’s

More at 2021 CUMRC

All 2021 Game Videos

2020
The 2020 tournament was to have been hosted by Queen’s University but was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Hosted by Concordia University in Montreal, QC

Gold – UVic
Silver – UBC
Bronze – Queen’s

More at 2019 CUMRC

Hosted by the University of Victoria in Victoria, BC

Gold – UBC
Silver – Queen’s
Bronze – UVic

More at 2018 CUMRC

Hosted by the University of Guelph in Guelph, ON

Gold – UBC
Silver – UVic
Bronze – McMaster

More at 2017 CUMRC

YearHostGoldSilverBronzeRecap
2023Trinity WesternUBCUVicGuelph
2022University of British ColumbiaUBCMcGillGuelph2022 Recap
2021Queen's UniversityUBCUVicQueen's2021 Recap
2020CanceledNANANA
2019Concordia UniversityUvicUBCQueen's
2018University of VictoriaUBCQueen'sUvic
2017University of GuelphUBCUvicMcMaster