Canada U20 Profile: Campbell Clarke

This is the fifth article in the Coast to Coast series featuring players at the men's U20 camp at Shawnigan Lake. The camp is part of the preparation for the trip to Romania to take part in the Junior World Rugby Trophy tournament starting on August 28th. The tournament includes eight teams, Canada are in a pool with Fiji, Uruguay and Portugal. The tournament winner will be promoted to the 2019 Junior World Championships.  
 
Campbell Clarke - St. John's NL

Campbell Clarke is one of the youngest players on the team, he still has a year of high school left and, including this year, has four years of eligibility with the U20s - something that will bring a smile to the coach's face. He plays #10 and impressed selectors with his performance during the U19 Canadian Rugby Championships this year. 

How did you first get into rugby? "My dad played way back when, so he got me into it at a pretty young age, I was probably 5 or 6 when I started playing, that was around the house with a rugby ball. I started going out to practice at our club [Swilers], I was pretty young."

What's the first age-grade you played at club or provincial level? "Provincial Under 14, we went to a national tournament in Calgary, I was probably 12 I guess."

What about school, did your high school have a team? "My high school back home didn't have a rugby team but when I switched schools and went to school in Ontario [St. Andrew's] in Grade 10 I was playing 1st team, that would have been my first experience in high school rugby."

Are you still at St. Andrew's? "Yes, I have one more year."

What level of rugby did your dad play? "He played provincially, I think he has one cap for Canada, he was outside centre [1996 vs Australia in Brisbane]"

What's the plan when you finish high school, have you thought about it yet? "A little bit, I've thought about it a little bit, not entirely sure yet, there's a few schools I'm looking at, figure it out in the fall I guess, through the spring."

Who are some of the contenders? "I'll probably play out west UVic or UBC, there's a couple of schools in the US I'm looking at, possibly the University of Sydney in Australia, or Cardiff Met maybe."

What about in terms of education and career, have you thought that far ahead? "I'm not entirely sure what I want to study yet, we'll see what I get out of the next couple of months of school, once school gets going. I'll probably do whatever I'm enjoying at school and go from that."

You've played a pretty decent level of hockey, is that right, you were mentioned in the Elite Prospects database? "Yes I still play, I'll play when I go back, when I came to St. Andrew's I played in the local AAA minor league, before that in Newfoundland in the Atlantic Cup."

Have you ever travelled over to Europe to play rugby before? "I have, yes, our provincial team from Newfoundland generally tours somewhere in the UK once a year, the last couple of years it's been Ireland or Wales, so I've been over a couple of times. With the U19's, earlier in the year, we went to Belfast during Christmas and then Dublin towards the end of March and April. I've been to the UK, but I've never been to eastern Europe."

Is there any particular player in international rugby that you watch? "It was always sort of Dan Carter I guess, he's retired now or not playing internationally any more. Right now, the guy I try to play a bit like is Johnny Sexton, probably the best #10 in the world. On YouTube, you have pretty good access to watching all the European rugby, trying to watch Dan Carter playing in Japan would be a bit tougher. I also watch a lot of Super Rugby with my dad, my dad loves that, that's always exciting."
 
You can follow Campbell and his teammates on their trip to Romania through the Rugby Canada website.