The boys in blue graduate to being the boys in red today at Westhills Stadium in Langford.
James Bay Athletic Association has always been noted for its forward pack in B.C. Premiership rugby play. So perhaps it’s only fitting, and hardly surprising, that Noah Barker and Steven Ng, both of JBAA, will form two-thirds of the front row for the Canada Selects in its game at 5 p.m. against the Ontario Arrows, the latter which is Canada’s first franchise in the North American pro Major League Rugby.
The all-Island front row for Canada Selects will be completed by Ryan Kotlewski of Westshore.
Canada Selects is essentially the Canadian national ‘B’ team as Canada head coach Kingsley Jones looks for roster depth ahead of a summer Test series that begins June 9 against Scotland at Commonwealth Stadium in Edmonton and continues June 16th against Russia at Twin Elm Rugby Park in Ottawa and June 23 against the U.S. Eagles at the Wanderers Ground in Halifax.
The Test series is to prepare Canada for the last-chance qualifier in November at France that will decide the 20th and final berth to the 2019 World Cup in Japan.
Jones is looking for anybody in the depth chart to step forward and state their case tonight at Westhills.
Luke Campbell of JBAA already has. The Oak Bay High graduate earned his first two caps earlier this year and showed well in doing so. Campbell, the son of Olympic silver-medallist rower Marilyn Campbell and former UVic rowing coach Howie Campbell, will open at No. 8 for Canada Selects to give JBAA the hat-trick of starters this evening at Westhills.
Canada Selects will be anchored by the many-times capped Calgary Hornets pair of World Cup veterans Gordon McRorie at fly-half and Nick Blevins at inside centre, along with 19-time capped Pat Parfrey of St. John’s at full-back. Conor Keys of the University of Victoria Vikes will start in the second row at lock while former Vikes player Lucas Rumball will captain Canada Selects from the open-flanker slot.
Players from Island teams dressed today in reserve and ready to be subbed from the Canada Selects bench include Liam Murray and Cole Keith of JBAA, Guiseppe du Toit of the UVic Vikes and the Castaway Wanderers foursome of Liam Chisholm, Doug Fraser Robbie Povey and Dustin Dobravsky.
Canada Selects blanked the Ontario Arrows 19-0 last weekend at York Lions Stadium in Toronto in the opening game of the two-game set. Jones has made six changes to the Canada Selects roster in going from Ontario to tonight on the Island.
“The changes have been made to give everybody a fair opportunity,” said Jones. “The boys have worked really hard in the last eight weeks.”
Bring your racing cleats, he said. Jones pointed to the larger field and speed-inducing artificial turf of Westhills Stadium as being issues that will be factors today: “We’ve got a wider track this week and we’ll be tested in terms of how much we run, and the fitness and conditioning of the players, will definitely be challenged on that surface.”
A full day of rugby at Westhills Stadium kicks off with Canada U-20, which is the future of the national team, playing Fraser Valley U-23 in an exhibition game at 2:30 p.m.
Admission is free to both games at Westhills.
Over the Malahat today, the Island Crimson Tide plays the Vancouver Wave in the McKechnie Cup at Herd Road in Cowichan at 2:30 p.m. The McKechnie Cup, inaugurated in the 1890s and once a major competition when provincial inter-union play was a bigger deal than it is today, is contested between the representative sides of the Vancouver Island, Vancouver and Fraser Valley rugby unions.
