Canada will introduce a whole squad of athletes to rugby league when they arrive in Scotland next month for the inaugural RL Commonwealth Championship at Broadwood Stadium. Their Under-19s are being recruited from various sports with former ice hockey, Canadian football and rugby union players included. Only two will be seasoned rugby league players as the Wolverines welcome the next generation to the code.
While open age rugby league is growing in Canada, and is especially developing in the south-west province of British Columbia, they are introducing teenagers to the code from rugby union. “These players are all elite Provincial and International rugby union 7s and 15s exponents and will adapt well to most facets of rugby league nines,” says Canada team manager Andy Blackburn. “However, the ruck area - dummy half plays, marker defence and in particular the play-the-ball area - will be our main focus. Speeding up our own play-the-ball and sufficiently controlling our opponents’ will have the biggest impact on our success at the tournament.”
Blackburn is the link between the Under-19s and the national team as he is Assistant Coach of the Canada Wolverines, who are now ranked 16th in RLIF World Rankings. “Our aim is twofold: we hope to show the rugby league ‘old world’ that a ‘new world’ is rising quickly in Canada and many other countries, such as South Africa and Jamaica. We agree that with a successful international expansion plan, that assists the game to be developed and executed, we could truly expand the reach of our great game beyond its traditional borders. Nines is perfect for us to hook Canadian players as it’s exciting and fast-flowing. We hope that our young Canadian players will come back from this tournament and use it as the springboard we desperately need to develop Youth and Senior 9s competitions back in Canada and I’m confident they will. The success of the inaugural BCRL 9s Canada Championship in Whistler last year was a great start!”
Central to their success could be Gold Coast Titans junior James Iodice, born and bred in Montreal to an Italian father but now living in Australia, a former international ice hockey player who is now excelling at league. “James will no doubt be the cornerstone of our team,” admits Blackburn, who also coaches the undefeated British Columbia Bulldogs rep team. “He’s a big Queensland Representative prop with a promising career in professional rugby league and will be a great addition. I see James taking on a leadership role as the tournament develops and mentoring many of our young players. Another to watch will be Cole Keffer, a half-back or hooker. Cole’s an exceptional athlete and highly successful elite union sevens player. He reminds me of Rob Burrow in terms of his blistering speed off the mark, his nose for a gap and tenacious tackling. Robert Welch is another with huge potential. He has a Canadian football background and although he has played some rugby union he’s still raw as a rugby player of either code, but I was able to easily identify some key league ingredients in his strong running and tackling game. Robert will probably play centre or wing for Canada and I expect him to score a few tries and make some massive hits.”
Canada play England, South Africa and Papua New Guinea in Group B on Friday 27 June, with play-off games on Saturday 28 June. All games are at Broadwood Stadium in Cumbernauld and admission is FREE.