Richmond's Harjun Gill will be captaining two-time defending champion B.C. when it begins play today at the Rugby Canada National Festival at the University of British Columbia.
The coaching tandem Jeff Williams and Ramses Langston selected Gill to captain this year's squad, going with experience as the Richmond Rugby Club standout is one of two returning players from last year's roster.
"Harjun has very good vision on the field and remains calm under pressure around the park," Williams said. "The players look to him for leadership and really respect him. Naming him captain was really an easy decision to make."
Williams and Langston return for a third straight year as the program seeks a rare three-peat. The coaching staff held a final selection camp two weeks ago at Shawnigan Lake School where they were able to fine tune their squad heading into the tournament.
"Our camp went really well and we had 30 guys in attendance," said Williams. "We've been working a lot on our defence and putting in the hard yards and focusing on our tackling."
Gill and St. George's teammate Karsten Leitner will be relied upon heavily as veteran players. Both are part of the B.C. Rugby Academy.
"There is some real parity in the U18 rugby competition this year with Quebec emerging as a top side, Ontario always posing a challenge and with Alberta proving to be a tough team," Williams added.
B.C.'s opening match against Alberta this afternoon (4:30 p.m.) will be a repeat of the 2012 national final where they downed Alberta 40-16 in Sherbrooke, Quebec. B.C. will also face Ontario and Newfoundland in round-robin before the playoff rounds start on Saturday.
Meanwhile, another Richmond Rugby Club product will be suiting up for the TrueBlue U17 men's provincial team which will be competing in the tier two tier competition of the U18 championships. McRoberts secondary student Nolan Howell is a member of the B.C. squad that will be taking on Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Saskatchewan in pool play. It marks the first time ever BC has entered a second team at the tournament.
