Whatever happens to them at the Commonwealth Championships at the end of the month, Canada will make history as the first youth rugby league team to leave their country to play overseas opposition. Coach Andy Blackburn and his management team have selected a young squad, many of whom are still 17, for the Under-19 Nines competition just outside Glasgow with only two players experienced in rugby league.
The vast majority of the squad – 13 out of the 15 – are from the BC Bulldogs club, based in Vancouver, but attracting players born all across British Columbia and Alberta on the west coast. The exceptions are the most experienced players: 18-year-old Toronto Centurions winger Lukas Silver from Scarborough, Ontario, who has already made his senior international debut against the USA last year, and prop James Iodice, who plays for NRL club Gold Coast Titans, his family having emigrated to Australia.
“James should lead Canada from the front,” says manager Paul O’Keefe. “He’s currently playing for the Titans’ Under-20s team in the National Youth Cup . He’s just recovered from major injuries which have kept him out of the game for the past year but before this he was an outstanding player who represented Queensland Under-16s. James will be a huge asset in this tournament and is very excited to be representing his birth nation.”
Iodice was born in Montreal and was a talented ice hockey player in Canada before moving Down Under and, having represented Australia at hockey, took up Rugby League.
“We included a lot of young players for the experience and to look into the future of Rugby League in Canada,” explains O’Keefe. “Although there are a lot of very talented athletes, this is very early days when it comes to Rugby League. In fact there is one player, Cole Keffer who has been selected to represent Canada in three different sports in the last twelve months!”
Keffer has been selected in the Canada U17s Rugby Union squad last year and will also represent Canada U19s in the sport of "Ultimate Frisbee" in Italy this July. He is an exciting talent who coach Blackburn predicts will show his class at Broadwood Stadium.
Most of the Canadian squad have played ice hockey while BC Bulldog Robert Welch has secured a college scholarship to play American Football and has played representative rugby union.
“Robert has the skills to succeed in our sport. He’s a hard running player with good pace. British Columbia has worked very hard on developing juniors to play league and this shows in their dominance of the squad. The players just need the experience in events like this to continue their growth in our game.”
CANADA
Nick Allen, Phil Berna, Drew Coles, Nick Collett, Matt Gallagher, Christian Haldane, Jason Hignell, Cole Keffer, Calixto Martinez, Gino Paolella, Tim Stephens, Robert Welch, Nick Wright (BC Bulldogs), James Iodice (Gold Coast Titans), Lukas Silver (Toronto Centurions).
In the RLCC2014 tournament at Cumbernauld’s Broadwood Stadium in North Lanarkshire, which is part of the Homecoming Scotland festival of events, Canada are in Group B where they will face Papua New Guinea, South Africa and England. They will return the next day for the play-offs and semi-finals stage. Entry on both days is FREE.