{"id":36919,"date":"2025-10-02T14:38:27","date_gmt":"2025-10-02T18:38:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=36919"},"modified":"2025-10-09T15:13:46","modified_gmt":"2025-10-09T19:13:46","slug":"rugby-world-cup-watch-party-attracts-more-than-220-to-town-square","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/rugby-world-cup-watch-party-attracts-more-than-220-to-town-square\/","title":{"rendered":"Rugby World Cup \u201cWatch Party\u201d attracts more than 220 to Town Square"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The final score of Saturday\u2019s Rugby World Cup championship game wasn\u2019t to the liking of more than 220 raucous spectators at Aurora Town Square.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, like the valiant Canadian Senior Women 15\u2019s, a 33-13 loss to #1-ranked England did not dampen the spirits of the Aurora Barbarians-based crowd.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the clock wound down on Team Canada\u2019s 20-point loss to the mighty Red Roses squad, the Barbs\u2019 faithful and friends gave the silver medal-winning Women\u2019s team a rousing standing ovation and a \u201cHip Hip Hooray for Canada\u201d chant which was captured for posterity by the CTV crew documenting the event.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Red-jerseyed rugby fans enjoyed the TSN\/CTV2 feed on the Town Square\u2019s big screen and reveled in Asia Hogan- Rochester\u2019s try which opened the scoring, put Canada ahead 5-0, and raised hopes for an upset of red-hot England.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, the white-clad Red Roses, which had won 62 of their last 63 matches, built a 21-8 half-time lead and Team Canada could not narrow the margin in the second half. Saturday\u2019s dominant victory over #2-ranked Canada ended England\u2019s 11-year drought at the World Cup.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The brave Canadians competed vigorously to the eightieth minute of play in front of 81,885 fans at Twickenham\u2019s Allianz Stadium\u2014the home of England Rugby.  Team Canada earned its berth in the World Cup championship final with its own impressive string of victories including a 34-19 dismantling of six-time champion New Zealand in the semi-finals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To qualify for the Final Four in England, the Canadian 15\u2019s overwhelmed a series of teams starting with a 65-7 thrashing of Fiji, a 42-0 shutout of Wales, a 40-19 win over Scotland, and a 46-5 thumping of Australia in the quarterfinals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Starter McKinley Hunt\u2014a graduate of Country Day School in King City and a star player for the Aurora Barbarians\u2014fronted a list of local players rostered by Team Canada for international play in 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rugby fans and Aurora residents Brian and Hilary Musker\u2014whose daughter Alex played for both the CDS Cyclone and the Barbs\u2014soaked in the atmosphere at Town Square.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brian said he thought the event \u201cwas wonderful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was great to be in a community centre like the Town Square and sharing the game with so many Aurorans.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hilary was equally impressed by the viewing experience:  \u201cBeing able to watch this championship with so many people who are rugby fans raises the sport\u2019s profile in town. Throughout the game, I was trash-talking my sister, Alison, who lives in England.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Echoing the Muskers\u2019 excitement about the Watch Party was Aurora Sports Hall of Fame inductee Marco Di Girolamo.  Inducted into the Hall of Fame as a rugby player in 2022 after starring for Team Canada, Di Girolamo was pleased to \u201csee so many people immersed in rugby in the Aurora community.\u201d  The current Barbarians\u2019 Head Coach thought it \u201cwas great that the Town and the Barbs brought so many people together to cheer on Team Canada today.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On a familial note, Di Giralamo noted that \u201cMy daughter enjoyed cheering on her heroes on Team Canada.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Canadian contingent in England gave Di Giralamo\u2019s daughter much to cheer about, especially the performance of speedy Asia Hogan-Rochester who contributed ten points to the 15\u2019s attack versus England with two tries\u2014one in each half\u2014and churned up over 100 yards from scrimmage. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The best news for Canadian rugby fans and national team aspirants on Saturday was a post-game announcement that served nicely as a consolation prize for attendees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite the loss in the championship final to England, Team Canada\u2019s Sophia de Goede was named World Rugby Player of the Year\u2014further heightening Canada\u2019s profile in international rugby. She is the first Canadian to earn such an honor since Magali Harvey won the award in 2014.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mayor Tom Mrakas\u2014who attended the event co-sponsored by the Town and the Barbarians\u2014was taken by the Senior Women\u2019s five-game performance in England.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat an incredible run by Team Canada at the World Cup.  The entire country was behind them, and they\u2019ve inspired a whole new generation of players\u2014including so many right here in Aurora.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mayor Mrakas credited the Barbarians Rugby Football Club for drawing so many residents to Watch Party: \u201cIt was fantastic to see the Aurora Barbarians play such a big role in today\u2019s event. They\u2019re a true example of community spirit and passion for the game, and we\u2019re lucky to have them representing the Town.\u201d He also expressed his satisfaction at \u201cseeing people of all ages coming together at Town Square to cheer on our women\u2019s rugby team\u2014this is exactly what we envisioned: a place where the community can gather, celebrate, and create lasting memories.  Cheers to the Town team for organizing such an outstanding event.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Jim Stewart
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter<\/strong><\/p>\n\r\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Aurora Barbarians McKinley Hunt and Tyson Beukeboom featured on Silver Medal-Winning Roster<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":36920,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[24,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-36919","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-sports","category-sports"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/2025-10-02-01.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-9Bt","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-11 09:53:35","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36919","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36919"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36919\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36921,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36919\/revisions\/36921"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36920"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36919"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36919"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36919"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}