Have field, will toss something — whether it’s a javelin hurled forward or a rugby ball thrown laterally.
All-rounder Sion Griffiths of Mill Bay, the Canadian Legion-class national bronze medallist and 2018 B.C. high school silver medallist in the javelin while at Brentwood College, will make his international rugby debut this week for Canada in the Spain Sevens event of the HSBC World Series in Malaga, Spain.
Six-foot-two Griffiths, out of the Cowichan Valley Athletic Club, is among the newcomers being introduced as Rugby Canada plots its path to the 2024 Paris Olympics following the retirement of the veteran core group — Victoria’s Connor Braid, University of Victoria Vikes great Nathan Hirayama, Harry Jones, Justin Douglas and Conor Trainor — that got Canada to the quarter-finals of the Tokyo Olympics last summer.
Griffiths joins the new wave that includes fellow Island players Brennig Prevost out of Glenlyon-Norfolk School, Jack Carson from Oak Bay High, Victoria’s Ciaran Breen out of Shawnigan Lake School, Anton Ngongo from Claremont Secondary and Mill Bay’s Matt Percillier from Brentwood College.
They were introduced over the fall in HSBC World Sevens Series tournaments held in Vancouver, Edmonton and Dubai, although not all will be making the trip to Spain because of injury or unavailability as Canadian management looks to spread the net wide and evaluate as many young players as it can in the crucible of international competition.
Noah Bain of Abbotsford will join Griffiths in making his Canada debut. On the veteran end of things, Olympians Phil Berna and Jake Thiel return to the roster following injuries. Theo Sauder, Josiah Morra and Cooper Coats are the other veterans of note to play in Spain.
The younger players selected include Griffiths, Bain, Ngongo, Elias Ergas of UBC, Alex Russell of McGill, Thomas Isherwood of the Foothills Lions, Matthew Oworu of Langford-based Pacific Pride and Nick Allen of Capilano RFC.
“We are excited to return to action with some new and familiar faces as we continue to develop young talent and welcome back a couple of players returning from injury,” Canada head coach Henry Paul said in a statement.
“Every player is relishing the opportunity to showcase their skills on the international stage.”
The tournament begins Friday with Canada drawn into Pool D with Wales, Kenya and France.
The Canada roster announcement for Spain comes after the news of the HSBC Canada Sevens, scheduled for Feb. 26-27 at B.C. Place, and the Los Angeles Sevens, on March 5-6, being postponed due to pandemic restrictions.
“Our entire team is fortunate and thankful to be able to continue to compete on the Sevens circuit [in Spain] given the current circumstances that everyone is facing at the moment,” said Paul.
The Langford-based Canadian women’s team, meanwhile, opens Friday in Malaga in a pool with the U.S. and Poland.
The roster includes UVic Vikes graduates Pamphinette Buisa and Paige Farries, the latter with Westshore RFC. Elissa Alarie is also from Westshore RFC and Olivia Apps is a Victoria native out of Queen’s University.
Florence Symonds, 19, Alysha Corrigan and Chloe Daniels, 18, will make their HSBC World Series debuts. Veteran Karen Paquin, a member of the 2016 Rio Olympics bronze-medallist Canadian team, returns to the sevens fold.
The Canadian women’s team is to host the HSBC Canada Sevens on April 30-May 1 at Starlight Stadium in Langford.
