The U20 camp is completed and now the coaches have the tough job of consulting and reviewing video to come up with 30 players to be used in the Romania and USA matches. Coach Jeff Williams has a number of expert coaches to consult with in this task, just at Shawnigan there's Tim Murdy the former Canada U20 coach, Gary Dukelow the front row advisor to the women's national XVs team, and Ander Munro the former Canada #10. Also helping out is brother Morgan a former professional #9 and former Canada 7s coach also Shane Thompson another former Canada 7s player and head coach and head of the BC Elite Youth 7s. Both UVic and UBC coaches (Doug Tate, Ramses Langston, Curry Hitchborn) are helping out with the camp and selection process. Also former national players Dan Pletch and Joe Haley have been assisting and the newly appointed Development Manager Ken Goodland is helping as well. Jack Hanratty the provincial coach from Nova Scotia and former development officer at Leinster Rugby is also assisting. It's an impressive group of individuals with a lot of knowledge on what it takes to play top level rugby so I'm confident they will identify the players needed to move forward.
Let's take a look at some of the players and which positions they are competing for.
Loosehead Prop: Brandon Blakie, Cali Martinez, Bryce Worden, Nik Hildebrand
Hooker: Paddy Findlay, Vincent Gionet, John Shaw, Joel Bratten
Tighthead Prop: Conor Young, Justin Alyward, Matt Tierney
Second Row: Mac Kea, Nate Thomas, Dillon Goos, Paul Cuilini, Matt Murphy
Flankers: Phil Berna, Adrian Wadden, Mitch Rothman, Ollie Nott, Alex Colborne
#8: Luke Bradley, Lucas Rumball
Scrum-half: Peter O'Leary, Tony Pomroy, Owen Brombel, Dan Joyce
Flyhalf: Guiseppe Du Toit, Rodd Giles, Robbie Povey
Wing: Toby Digney, Theo Sauder, Tim Hart, Karsten Leitner, Brandon Waeyen
Centres: Emile Sehic, Mitch Santili, Chris Miles, Dylan Horgan
Fullback: Harjun Gill, Andrew Coe, Mitch Richardson
Some interesting names pop up scanning the list. Peter O'Leary is Shane O'Leary's younger brother. You may remember that Shane came over from Young Munster and helped Canada to its best finish in recent history when Canada finished second in Chile two years ago.
Some say Peter may be even better (I'm sure Shane's not reading this) but plays scrum-half. Shane is now with Connacht's second team looking to break into the first squad. Peter O'Leary is battling another Irish-based player Dan Joyce for that position as well Tony Pomroy of Newfoundland and Owen Brombel of Ontario.
The battle at #10 should be interesting, Guiseppe du Toit of course plays with UVic and has been tested out with the senior team in the ARC the last two years, he's up against two players from England Rob Povey and Rodd Giles. Rob Povey actually attends Rugby school where it all started many years ago. So there seems a wealth of talent and competition this year.
At #8 two familiar names, Lucas Rumball from Queen's was on the U20 side last year and Luke Bradley is a local Island product from Port Alberni now attending UVic.
At flanker there's Phil Berna from St. George's and UBC who went on the Maple Leafs 7s tour to South America, Ollie Nott a UVic player who was a member of the Vikes University 7s championship team last year.
UBC are well represented with Harjun Gill, Theo Sauder, Karsten Leitner, Andrew Coe as well as Phil Berna. [ed. Calixto Martinez also from UBC, plays 1, 2. EMS grad. Canada Rugby League U19.]
In the centres another Irish player with Canadian roots, Dylan Horgan, will match up against Emil Sehic of New Brunswick, Chris Miles of BC and Mitch Santilli of Ontario.
There's also an Australian based player, Connor Young, who will be competing for a front row position. The tight five is one area of special interest with Canada's U20 teams as recently the physicality hasn't been where it needs to be when matching up against the South American and European teams. So it's good news that they get to play the Romanians twice before the important USA games. Three years ago the Romanians who didn't qualify for the JWRT came over and defeated Canada twice in pre-tournament matches and it was in the physicality of the forwards that Canada was exposed. So this will be a good test and a good metric for comparison purposes. Hopefully with a front row expert like Gary Dukelow as part of the larger coaching team he'll provide some assistance and guidance.
We're looking forward to the selection announcement and the March matches which will determine Canada's U20 path this year.
[ed. addition from reader]
Bryce Worden, originally from Sussex NB, moved to Burnaby 2 years ago. 6 ft 4, 275lbs. :shock: :shock: Incredibly strong for a young man. Has been working out daily with BCRU S+C coach Conan Cooper for 2 yrs. Started every game (I believe) this year on the BLRC Premier team and held his own and more vs the best in the Province. Was a major contributor to the BLRC's 1st Div Provincial Championship last year. HUGE ball carrier.
[ed. if you have insights on other players on the list email
[email protected] and I'll append the comments here.]
