Oak Bay-based rugby players tour Ireland

A handful of Oak Bay-based Castaway Wanderers round out Canada’s Men’s Under-19 squad touring Ireland.

Nicholas Carson, Samuel Kahn, Harrison Hooke and Brandon Schellenberger are on the tour that runs March 20 April 6.Carson also plays for Oak Bay High.

The 32-man squad competes against five teams over the course of the tour which includes fixtures against the Ireland Schools Team, Leinster, Ulster and Munster.

Head coach Dean Murten will be leading the tour along with Tony LaCarte (assistant coach), Conan Cooper

The trip acts as another important development opportunity for the young players who also toured Northern Ireland in December. The team headed out after an intense weekend training camp.

“The camp at the weekend was outstanding, we brought in some players that were unable to go on the Ulster tour. These few players have added some size and physicality to the team,” says head coach Head coach Dean Murten. “ I was very happy with the returning players, it certainly looked like they had gone away and put in the work we asked them to do. As well as on field work, Conan Cooper had a good meeting with the players around what can be done from a physical preparation point in the next five weeks to see improvements.”

He says size and physicality are keys to the team.

“The goal for the tour is to perform to the best of our ability, expose the players to international and high-performance rugby, whilst having fun,” Murten said. “At this age it’s not all about winning, but we do expect to be very competitive and have a good solid 80 minute performance in the first two games against Ireland. This will lay the foundations to get a few good results against the other three provincial teams. Ultimately, I want players returning from the tour having learned a lot about what’s required to play international rugby, learned more about themselves, and made them hungry for more top level rugby. And made them better rugby players.”