Canadian pride tends to take over when wearing the maple leaf.
Okotokian Thomas Isherwood and Team Canada finished strong at the World Rugby U20 Trophy in San Jose Dos Campos, Brazil bringing home a fifth place finish.
“It was pretty crazy, the whole experience around it,” said Isherwood, a 2018 Foothills Composite graduate. “Just running out with the jersey on, putting the jersey on in the locker-room with the guys is a very special moment.
“When we sang the national anthem, the other teams were very quiet and us Canadian guys we sang our hearts out, on the live stream you can hear it loud and clear. That was one of the proudest moments for sure.”
The Okotokian saw his role on the squad increase throughout the tournament, playing a bit of fly-half and primarily at full-back.
“I got a lot of game time which was sweet especially because I can obviously play next year as well,” said Isherwood, a product of the Foothills Lions Rugby Club. “With all that game time, hopefully I can work on that throughout the year and get in more full games next year when we play.”
Canada booked its ticket for Brazil by defeating the United States in a two-game series by a 67-38 margin in June.
At worlds, Canada was pooled alongside Tonga, Portugal and Hong Kong and quickly found out competition on the international stage against bigger rugby nations can be something to behold on the outskirts of Sao Paulo.
“We had about three or four days before we played,” Isherwood said. “It wasn’t the best fields, but you take what you can get.
“They usually hold it in not a struggling part of the country, but somewhere they’re trying to grow rugby, there were a lot of local players volunteering for the teams.”
Canada got a stiff test against the physically imposing Tonga side to start the tournament and ultimately lost 26-25.
“All we knew is they’re big islanders and they want to smash us and go for the big hits and mess you up,” Isherwood said. “If we stuck to our structure they would be scattered, that was our game plan.
“They came back and they capitalized on our errors and that was a tough one.”
The Canucks then tackled a rising power in the sport and fell 49-21 to Portugal, the eventual silver medallists in the competition.
“We had a close game against them, but they played quite well for 60 minutes where we kind of dropped off at the end,” he said. “They were the most deserving team to win, they definitely outplayed us.”
In the round-robin finale, Canada left no room for doubt in cruising to a 78-26 triumph over Hong Kong, earning its spot in the fifth place match.
“We were definitely the better team, especially coming off those two losses we were very hungry,” Isherwood said. “Rugby Canada, we’ve been dropping in the rankings so we kind of wanted to prove everyone wrong and finish off on a high note.”
Team Canada punctuated its finish in the fifth-place match, a 52-13 win, after getting to know its opposition off the pitch.
“We were in the same hotel as Kenya,” Isherwood said. “And I remember one of my favourite parts of the trip was the day before (the game) we were playing volleyball in the pool with them and they were some of the best guys there, for sure.
“They’re obviously not coming from very much, they’re just coming out to play rugby and it was awesome.”
