For the first time in the history of the Rugby Canada National Championships, B.C. will be entering a second team in the Under-18 men's division.
And G.P. Vanier's Braydon Williams is part of that historic team.
During the National Festival at UBC's Wolfson Fields (Aug. 7-11), the TrueBlue U17 men's provincial team will be competing in the Tier Two competition with pool round games against Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Saskatchewan.
The selection process for the U17s began with a camp back in June before head coach Curry Hitchborn assembled the TrueBlue Selects to compete in the U18 B2Gold Provincial Regional Championships. The squad competed against regional U18 teams from across BC and went on to place third, finishing behind runner-ups North Island Tsunami and eventual champs Vancouver Wave.
After another weekend camp and a trial run against touring side Durham, Hitchborn named his final roster for the tournament, which kicked off on Aug. 7.
The program was created to provide more representative rugby opportunities for B.C.'s emerging talent. A number of top level players would have sat this year out but the U17 program allowed Hitchborn and assistant coach Andy Blackburn to scout a number of players outside of the current provincial set up.
The BC U17s (referred to as BC-2 at nationals) opened against Nova Scotia on Aug. 7. They play New Brunswick today and Saskatchewan on Friday. Playoffs go Aug. 10 and placement rounds on Aug. 11.
For more information on the competition visit www.nationalfestivalrugby.com.
– British Columbia Rugby Union