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Head Coach Damian McGrath has named a 14-player squad for April

Bryan Kelly
Rugby 7s Senior Men

LANGFORD, BC – Canada Men’s Sevens Head Coach Damian McGrath has named a 14-player squad to compete in the upcoming Asian swing of the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series and Commonwealth Games in Australia.

The team departs for Hong Kong on Friday as they prepare for one of the most grueling months of sevens action on the circuit so far, which involves three major tournaments in the space of four weeks.

First up will be the famous Hong Kong tournament, which has built a reputation as one of the most anticipated stops on the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series and the premier event on the Hong Kong sporting calendar. The event is expected to attract close to 120,000 screaming fans over the course of the tournament. Canada has been drawn alongside Australia, Kenya and Spain in pool B and will be looking to string three strong performances together to progress in the cup competition.

From Hong Kong, the squad will travel to Queensland for the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games. Although this tournament does not count towards World Series points, a number of nations have prioritized this event with the likes of New Zealand, England, South Africa and Australia resting a number of key players in order to be fresh for the games. Canada will once again be fighting for gold in what should be a brilliant spectacle of running rugby in the tropics.

The tour is concluded in Singapore where Canada enter the tournament as defending champions after making history last year by winning their first ever cup title. This years’ tournament is set to be tough test for all teams involved due to the nature of the schedule leading up to the event.

A full-strength squad has been named for the tour with only Phil Berna and Jake Thiel missing out due to long-term injuries. Josiah Morra, Jared Douglas and Luke Bradley will be on standby should anyone get injured on the month-long tour.

Canada’s men’s roster for Hong Kong, Commonwealth Games & Singapore:

Andrew Coe – Markham Irish (Toronto, ON)

Connor Braid – James Bay AA (Victoria, BC)

Tevaughn Campbell – Unattached (Toronto, ON)

Admir Cejvanovic – Burnaby Lake RFC (Burnaby, BC)

Justin Douglas – Abbotsford RFC (Abbotsford, BC)

Lucas Hammond – Toronto Nomads (Toronto, ON)

Nathan Hirayama – Unattached (Richmond, BC)

Isaac Kaay – UVIC Vikes (Kamloops, BC)

Pat Kay – Castaway Wanderers (Duncan, BC)

Mike Fuailefau – Castaway Wanderers (Victoria, BC)

Harry Jones – Capilano RFC (North Vancouver, BC)

Luke McCloskey – Castaway Wanderers (Victoria, BC)

John Moonlight – Captain, James Bay AA (Pickering, ON)

Matt Mullins – Queen’s University (Belleville, ON)

Hong Kong Schedule:

April 6

7:54am ET/4:54am PT – Canada vs Kenya

April 6/7

12:48am ET (Saturday)/9:48pm PT (Friday) – Canada vs Australia

4:48am ET/1:48am PT (Saturday) – Canada vs Spain

Gold Coast Commonwealth Games Schedule:

https://www.gc2018.com/sites/default/files/2018-02/v2%20Rugby%207s%20Schedule%20A4.pdf

Singapore Sevens Schedule April 28-29

TBD

ABOUT COMMONWEALTH GAMES CANADA

Commonwealth Games Canada (CGC) is the international franchise holder for the Commonwealth Games and Commonwealth movement in Canada, and an active, contributing member of the Canadian sport community. The mission of CGC is to strengthen sport within Canada and throughout the Commonwealth by participating in the Commonwealth Games and by using sport as a development tool. Visit www.commonwealthgames.ca for information.

About Rugby Canada

Rugby Canada is the national governing body of the sport of rugby union in Canada. Rugby Union has a long history in Canada dating back to its initial appearances in the 1860s. Since 1974, Rugby Canada has been a permanent fixture on the global rugby scene, including trips to each of the eight Rugby World Cup tournaments and seven Women’s Rugby World Cup tournaments. As a regular on the men’s and women’s HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series, Canada continues to climb the world rankings and challenge the dominant rugby nations in both versions of the game.

To support the growth of rugby at the grass-roots level and to ensure there are elite programs prospering young rugby players to become involved, Rugby Canada has put an emphasis on developing its junior programs. Our goal is the develop and train competitive teams for the 2020 Summer Olympic Games in Japan, 2018 Rugby World Cup Sevens in USA and 2019 Men’s Rugby World Cup in Japan and beyond.

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For more information about Rugby Canada

Bryan Kelly

Communication & Media Relations Manager

Rugby Canada

(250) 216 5272

bkelly@rugby.ca

 

For additional information on the Gold Coast 2018 Canadian Team or CGC:

Sylvie Bigras

Communications Chief

Team Canada – Gold Coast 2018

613 298 1625

sylvie@magma.ca