Canada U20 Profile: Jack McRogers

This is the fourth 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.
 
Jack McRogers - Toronto, ON
 
Jack plays hooker for Canada U20, he's from Newmarket Ontario and part of the Aurora Barbarians rugby club. He's currently a 3rd year student at McMaster University. We had a chance to chat about his start in rugby and where he sees it leading after the U20 tournament.
 
What were your first memories of rugby growing up, when did you start playing? "My dad was a rugby player, I'm actually at the same club he was growing up, the Aurora Barbarians, when he played for them they were mostly the Toronto Barbarians. Grade 8 was my first year of real rugby, I was in New Zealand at the time, our family was there for about 13 months or so. I didn't have a rugby team at Newmarket high school [Ontario] until grade 11/12. I was part coach/part player we had a teacher supervisor. I played flyhalf in high school [laughs], it wasn't great rugby but it was a good time, a good atmosphere teaching football players how to play rugby."
 
What sports did you play at high school? "I played four years of football, I really enjoyed it, even though I played football I knew rugby was really what I wanted to do. I was a running back in football."
 
How did your family feel about your rugby journey? "They were incredibly supportive, I really couldn't have asked for more, my mom is a huge rugby fan now but at the start she didn't know too much about it, she'd come to the games and after the games I'd explain the rules but now she goes on her own time and watches the 7s circuit, she's actually become very knowledgeable. My dad's into it big time, he coached me at U14 and U16 club rugby."
 
What about after high school, where did you go from there? "McMaster University, the head coach there is Dan Pletch, he's been great, and having a front rower as a coach he has so much knowledge. It's a good rugby school, it's academics, great environment, great staff."
 
You played fly half in high school, when did you make the transition to hooker? "It was coach [Mike] Curran and [Sean] McDonaugh who helped me make the transition, I was 18 at the U19 CRC's, I was more of a flanker at that time. I had no idea how to throw the first game, just some awful throws, it was fun though. I've been working really hard at it, to go top level that's where I fit."
 
So a lot of work in the weight room? "Oh yes, big time!"
 
What are you studying at McMaster? "Kinesiology, I'm in my third year, it's a pretty hard program, I've taken a decreased work load to concentrate on the rugby."
 
And after university, what sort of career are you thinking of? "I joke with the guys, I'm going to join the family business and become a high school teacher. My dad and my grandfather are both high school teachers. I could finish my degree and take teacher's college for two years, or I'd be interested in trying other things, I'm not that keen on more school or a Master's. I'm pretty interested in the strength and conditioning field and I've had some work at McMaster working at some of the summer camps teaching high school athletes strength and conditioning."
 
What are the rugby options after U20? "There's no doubt in my mind that I want rugby as a career, I want to play rugby as long as I can. If an offer from anywhere would come I would probably put a lot of things, including school, on hold for the time. If that offer comes you don't want to miss it, I can come back and finish school. There's been a lot of hype around the Ontario Arrows, I've been lucky enough to play a couple of games for them, I think that would be ideal if I could play professional rugby in Ontario and maybe pick up classes at the same time. That would be unbelievable to have that opportunity in Ontario, I don't know if it's going to come but I'd jump on that."
 
You can follow Jack and his teammates on their trip to Romania through the Rugby Canada website.