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2026 Season Wrap: A Year to Remember at Cru Park

ByChris Tudor Price
Crusaders junior players in gold jerseys celebrate after a match by drinking from their rugby boots as teammates and a coach look on

Two league titles, two cup finals on our own pitch, provincial medals, national champions in blue, Canada’s women training at Cru Park and a summer packed with camps, tours and parties. As the boots go into storage for the winter, here’s a look back at a season to remember.

Senior Men: double champions

The season opened in May with a clean sweep against the Burlington Centaurs in the battle for the BurlOak Cup, the 3rd XV setting the tone with a 33–22 win and the 2nd XV following with a 50–12 victory.

By September, both the 1st XV and the 2nd XV had won the Marshall Premiership, the 1st XV with a round to spare and the 2nd XV with a 38–24 final-round win at Balmy Beach.

Cup rugby brought more drama. On semi-final Saturday at Cru Park, the 2nd XV beat the Sarnia Saints 50–5 in the Gee-Gage Cup and the 1st XV dug deep to beat Waterloo County 30–24 in the McCormick Cup. A week later, with Cru Park hosting Finals Day, the 1st XV lost a classic McCormick Cup final 40–39 to the Brantford Harlequins with the last kick of the game, and the 2nd XV fell to Toronto Scottish in the Gee-Gage final. It hurt, but what a season.

Off the league calendar, we welcomed touring Welsh side Aberdare RFC to Cru Park on a glorious Monday evening in May, with a post-match clubhouse session that will live long in the memory.

Hosting McCormick Cup Finals Day

On Saturday, October 24, Cru Park hosted McCormick Cup Finals Day, with the Gee-Gage Cup and McCormick Cup finals, the two biggest games in Ontario men’s rugby, played on our main pitch. And we got to play in both of them.

It was a full day out for the whole community. Gates opened at 10:30 am, with a DJ, a Kids’ Zone with a bouncy castle and glitter tattoos, food and ice cream trucks, the clubhouse bar and extra bars around the grounds, and VIP tents right behind the try line. When the final whistle blew, a live band kept the celebrations going into the night.

With dignitaries and Rugby Ontario officials in the crowd, packed touchlines and music from first whistle to last call, the club showed the whole province how a day of rugby should be hosted. It was the best McCormick Cup event in years, and whoever hosts next year has a high bar to clear! Thank you to everyone who bought a ticket, and to every volunteer who worked the gates, the parking, the bars, the food, the Kids’ Zone and the clean-up long after the final whistle.

Senior Women

Our Senior Women competed in the NRU Premiership and finished the regular season in style, on a winning run that included a 111–0 win over the Norfolk Harvesters, to play for playoff seeding. Looking ahead, we were thrilled to welcome Koko Lozada as head coach of the Senior Women for the 2026/27 season.

Juniors: medals and tours

  • Our U16 Boys Provincial side topped the Central West division with a 5–1 record, beat Barrie and Balmy Beach in the playoffs, and took bronze at the Junior Provincial Cup finals in Ottawa with a 38–0 win over Barrhaven Scottish.
  • Our U18 Boys also took provincial bronze in Ottawa in the most dramatic way possible: trailing Belleville on the final play, the pack forced a scrum penalty on Belleville’s own line, and the kick sailed over for an 18–15 walk-off win.
  • Cru Park hosted a string of touring school sides from the UK, including Coleg y Cymoedd, Plymouth College, Croesyceiliog School and Bohunt School, giving our juniors a taste of international rugby on home soil.
  • In October, we hosted the NRU Regional 7s Tournament at Cru Park, and our juniors finished the year at the Rugby Ontario Provincial Championships in Barrie and on the fall 7s circuit.

Crusaders in Ontario blue

Nine Crusaders represented Ontario at the Canadian U19 Championships and O’Neills Challenge Cup in Guelph in July, and the results were spectacular. Ontario’s U19 women and men both went unbeaten all week and beat the BC Bears in their finals to win national gold, with Mickael Tissier, Jack Gore, Tessa Jackson, Ashok Cudjoe, Zion Davidson and Tyler Cunningham all part of the champions. In the U17 series against BC, Simon Stander and the boys came from behind to win 2–1, while Matilda Boggs and Sophia Aquino and the girls finished runners-up after three tight games.

At senior level, eight Crusaders toured BC with the Ontario Blues in May.

Wearing the maple leaf

It was a remarkable year for Crusaders in red and white. Lizzie Gibson, Jacob Ince and Jack Gore all earned their first caps for Canada, Lizzie and Taylor Perry started as Canada beat world champions England twice at home, and Adam Stander was named to Canada’s U20 squad. Our full honours round-up is coming soon.

In October, we were proud to host Canada’s Women’s Rugby Team at Cru Park as they prepared for their historic win over England at BMO Field, with Rugby Canada running referee and coaching clinics for our members. A week later, representatives of Rugby Americas North, World Rugby’s regional body, joined us for semi-final Saturday.

Minis

Our youngest Crusaders kept busy all year, from winter skills sessions in January to Try Rugby Days in the spring, festivals across the region all summer. On July 18, we hosted our annual Minis Festival at Cru Park, with U8, U10 and U12 teams from across the region filling the pitches. Thank you to every parent and coach who made it happen.

The Summer Ball

The social highlight of the year was the 2026 Crusaders Summer Ball, presented by Home Solutions Inc., on Saturday, June 20. Straight after the 1st XV took on Balmy Beach on the main pitch, the whole Cru family dressed up and headed for the champagne garden and the marquee for an evening of fun, friendship and dancing, with a live and silent auction along the way. Every ticket and bid supported the Crusaders Players Fund, which helps players and families across the club who need it most, and together we raised an incredible $25,000.

A huge thank you to our sponsors: presenting sponsor Home Solutions Inc.; Gold Sponsors Spectrum Energy and Royal Oak Dental; Silver Sponsor Florence Meats; and Bronze Sponsors AthletaCare, Foundation Chiropractic Co., Jacobs Dental Oakville, Destiny Copper, Expedia Cruises Oakville South, OnePlumb Plumbing and South to North Landscaping. Please support the businesses that support us!

Life at the clubhouse

  • The year began with a Celebration of Life for John Slattery in January, and a party to mark Chris Clark’s 80th birthday.
  • The clubhouse was packed for the Six Nations, complete with a fantasy league, trivia, squares and a St. Patrick’s celebration, and we screened the Olympic hockey final and the FIFA World Cup.
  • Our Victoria Day Fireworks were, by every measure, a smashing success.
  • Alumni Day in June brought the generations together, and the first Crusaders Alumni Golf Challenge Cup followed in July.
  • Eight weeks of summer camps kept young Crusaders busy, with Minis Summer Day Camp and Sports of All Sorts running from July to the end of August.
  • We hosted RBC Wealth Management and Rugby Ontario’s Food Scarcity Round, collecting donations for Kerr Street Mission, and filled a table at Rugby Canada’s fundraising dinner for the men’s World Cup campaign.
  • New livestreaming gear brought Cru Park matches to our YouTube channel, and the club blazer made a welcome return.

In August we said goodbye to Ward 5 Councillor Marc Grant, a steady friend of the club for many years. He is missed.

Thank you

None of this happens without our volunteers: the coaches, managers, field crew, bar staff, camp counsellors, photographers and parents who give their time week after week. McCormick Cup Finals Day showed the whole province what this club can do, and that was down to you.

The 2026 off-season is here

The work doesn’t stop over the winter, and our off-season is already under way:

Spots go quickly, so register early in the club shop. We’ll also see you at the AGM in January. Until then, thank you for a fantastic 2026. Up the Cru!