NEWS REPORT

Making a provincial rugby side is pretty good. But securing a spot on a national rugby side is even better.

For Chris Smith, Tony LaCarte, Brendan Singbeil and twin brothers Tom and Alec Myring, who are all Bayside RFC players, it’s huge. The five of them, all homegrown Semiahmoo Peninsula talent, are off to Italy this week where they’ll lace up their cleats for Canada in the Under-19 World Cup.

Playing in the U-19 rugby World Cup is a dream come true for Tom Myring, Brendan Singbeil and Alec Myring. Missing is Tony LaCarte.

“It was a proud moment when I found out,” said Tom Myring, a high school senior who plays for Semiahmoo Secondary Totems. “When I started (playing rugby)...this is the ultimate goal for this age group.” He’ll play centre for Canada.

For Singbeil, a first-year student at UBC, who spent 2000-01 playing rugby in Wales, making the side is a big weight off his shoulders. He’ll also play centre, either on the inside or outside. “Coming out of Grade 12, I would have said I didn’t have a chance,” he said. “It’s cool to see how far I’ve come.”

But it wasn’t easy making the national side. The five of them spent a week (Dec. 15-21) in Victoria prior to Christmas vacation with 35 other invitees from across the country. The trials included a 45-3 victory over the U.S. Junior National side in exhibition play. Twenty-six made the team.

Smith, a 2001 Earl Marriott Secondary graduate, is currently in Wales going to a prep school and playing rugby. He came home for the try-outs and it proved to be worth it.

“It was really hard, it was snowing...it was a week of hell,” said Smith before heading back to the U.K. in January. “It was just great to be able to try out in the first place.” 

“I was excited when I found out, I was kind of surprised.” There were no easy days playing on the wet pitch. “If you were dogging it, you just worked yourself into the ground,” said Alec Myring, who will be on the international pitch as a hooker or a prop. “You were going to be cut.”

Singbeil, Smith and the Myrings found out they made the squad Dec. 30. LaCarte, a 2001 Elgin Park grad who was a last-minute invitee to the camp, initially made the side as a non-traveling reserve. But he just found out Tuesday morning he’d be making the trip to Venice with the rest of his teammates and playing as a winger.

“I’m really excited,” he said. “It’s pretty big and I’m looking forward to representing my country.”

Canada, who lost the World Cup to Russia in 2000, is seeded first at the 2002 event. Thirty-two teams are competing in two pools of 16. Canada is in pool B. They play a test match against Chile March 17 prior to opening the tournament against Maldives.

They have to win their first two matches in order to advance to the second round. No matter how well they do, the five of them all say it’s an honour to wear the maple leaf on their chests and don their red and white jerseys.

“Everything you do leads up to this,” Alec said. “We’re very proud to represent Canada.”

The last big tournament for the five players came last summer when they won gold for Team B.C. at the Canada Summer Games.

Bayside RFC has sent five players to compete for Canada in the U-19 World Cup in 1997, 1999 and 2000. Of the 26 players on the current 2002 national team, 14 are from B.C., two are from Newfoundland and the remainder are from Ontario.