Many rugby players from the Cowichan Valley had the honour of representing their province this summer, donning the Team BC blue and gold jersey for a variety of competitions over a range of age groups.
Suiting up for B.C.’s U17 girls team at the U18 Western Canadian Championships in Winnipeg were Cowichan Rugby Football Club players Mia Eagar and Madi (MJ) Jumeau, along with Shawnigan Lake School students Sammi Lillywhite and Kiara Stecko.
The B.C. U17 girls ended up with the second-best record at the five-team tournament, despite the fact that the other provinces fielded older squads.
Both Eagar and Jumeau also play rugby sevens at the elite level, but thought the chemistry in this case was among the best they had ever experienced.
“I prefer playing sevens,” Eagar said. “But the atmosphere with this team was better.”
“It was much more like family,” Jumeau added. “We just clicked right away.”
After a slow start, the B.C. girls improved steadily throughout the tournament, earning wins over Manitoba and Saskatchewan and tying Alberta Black, with their lone defeat coming at the hands of Alberta White. It added up to a lot of rugby over three days.
Jumeau, who plays flanker and No. 8, is starting Grade 12 this fall, and Eagar, who usually plays inside centre but got one start at fullback in Winnipeg, is heading into Grade 11. After previously attending Cowichan Secondary, both players are making the move to Belmont in Langford to join the Rugby Canada Development Academy and train with the national women’s sevens program.
“It will be nice to get a fresh start,” Jumeau said.
“Our skills should improve playing with the national team,” Eagar added.
The provincial U16 girls team that won gold at the U16 Western Canadian Championships in Kelowna included CRFC players Maxine O’Leary, Chloe Storie-Soth, Kaitlyn Crichton and Mikayla Brennan. B.C. went 3-0 in that tournament, locking up first place with a win over Alberta’s U16 side.
“We came in really confident,” O’Leary said.
“We got off to a rough start, but we came together and pulled through,” Storie-Soth added. “In every other game we were dominant, but they gave us a run for our money a bit.”
Brennan has four years of rugby under her belt, O’Leary three, and Storie-Soth and Crichton two. Brennan also competed for B.C. as a 15-year-old in 2017, but this was the highest level the other girls had competed at.
“It was a good experience to play with girls we’ve never played with before,” Storie-Soth said.
The players making their first appearances on Team BC were all surprised to make the cut.
“I never expected to play,” said Crichton, a Cowichan Secondary student along with O’Leary.
Storie-Soth, who attends Shawnigan Lake School, had some advice for other players who consider trying out for the provincial team.
“For players thinking of going out for B.C., believe in yourself and don’t give up,” she said.
B.C. also had a U15 team in the U16 championships, which included Cowichan players Jaxon Baker and Victoria Van Niekerk. They admitted it was intimidating to face older players, although the U15 team only lost one game at the tournament, against the B.C. U16 girls.
“We played the first half not as strong,” Van Niekerk said of the game against B.C.’s U16 team. “In the second half, they didn’t get as many tries as in the first half.”
“I feel like we played a pretty strong game against the Alberta team,” Baker said.
The U16 boys Blue team, which won gold in their tournament, included Cowichan product Callum Blake-Currier, while the B.C. boys Gold team featured Carter Blaikie, Mackenzie Justason and Logann Lawrence. The B.C. U15 boys team in the U16 tournament included Dylan Cleaver, Jack Napier-Ganley, Owen Plater and Ryan Smith.
The provincial U14 boys team only played one game as a unit, beating Washington state 24-10 in a warm-up match prior to the Canadian championship game between BC Bears and Prairie Wolfpack in Burnaby on Aug. 3. It was still a memorable experience for CRFC players Ben Martin, Michael Davies and Oliver Clarke.
“They didn’t score when I was on,” hooker Clarke joked, adding more seriously that he stole two scrums from Washington.
The boys tried out for the North Island Tsunami rep team, then played at the B.C. regional championships. From there, they were among nearly 50 players selected for a week-long training camp in Kelowna, with the top 23 taking part in the game against Washington. With seven years of rugby experience, Davies has been playing the longest, followed by Martin at four years and Clarke at just one. For the most part, they were surprised to make the final roster.
“Being smaller and a new player, I wasn’t expecting it,” Clarke admitted.
Martin was more optimistic about their chances.
“I felt the three of us would at least make the camp,” he said.
They all gave credit to Randy Barton, their coach with the club and the North Island team, for their success.
“He put in a lot of work to make me semi-good,” Clarke said.
Naturally, the boys have their sights set on one day playing for Canada.
“If I could make the national team, that would be awesome,” Davies commented.
As long as he can play somewhere, though, Clarke won’t be unhappy at any level.
“I just like rugby,” he said. “It wouldn’t matter if I was playing for Canada or Cowichan.”