Canada U20 Updates – May 2025

Canada U20 Hold On Against Late Island Surge to Win 26-22

The Canada U20 team won a close 26-22 contest over the Island XV. The U20 went ahead early after a blocked clearing kick from inside the Island 22, notch that one up to good defensive line speed and perhaps some shoddy clearance work from the Island XV. The Island responded with two tries, both unconverted, to go ahead 10-5. The grass was wet from day long rain and handling errors were mounting up, leading to scores. The U20 responded with two tries of their own, converted, 19-10. A great solo effort by inside centre Josh McIndoe extended the U20 lead to 26-10. The Island scored the last two tries to close the gap to 26-22.

Overall I thought the U20 had some good size in the forwards, they won a penalty on the first scrum of the match which pumped them up. I’m thinking, hoping, they hold their own in the contact area over the 3 matches in Fiji. I think the coaches selected with forwards physicality in mind. Josh McIndoe #12 had been on my radar for a while, people had pointed him out before he came to UVic as he had played in NZ at a good level. He didn’t really standout at UVic at the Premier level, in the matches I watched, but he looked good in this match. He’s a very physical runner, broke through a number of tackles, sort of reminiscent of a young Ben Lesage. Once he gets his second receiver distribution skills up there, he’ll be pushing for a senior national spot I think. The team’s defensive line speed was good, the anticipation was good as well, the defensive coach is John McFarland who has worked at professional levels in South Africa, Japan and France so they should be well organized. It’s a bit surprising that the Island team came on strong in the last 20 minutes with the U20 team having a 32 player roster but I realized the Island squad would be at match fitness just wrapping up the season and a number of U20 players who don’t compete in BC, or are not getting regular playing time, may still be in pre-season or gym form, not quite the same as match fit. We’ll see how that plays out in Fiji.

There’s still a question mark at #10 I think, and the back three. When Canada came second to Italy in the 2013 JWRT they had a choice between Shane O’Leary and Pat Kay for #10, O’Leary playing a good level in Ireland for Young Munster and Kay playing and starting in the BC Premier with UVic. O’Leary ended up being #10 and Kay played in the centres, it was a strong combination. I found this snippet from 2013 in the Times Colonist article by Travis Patterson, “It’s no secret Young Munster fly half Shane O’Leary has been a boon to Canada at No. 10. O’Leary adds great depth to the roster and is on his way to a pro career in Europe. His addition moves likely starter Pat Kay to centre alongside Connor McCann, Canada’s all-time leading scorer in the JWRT. “Playing at centre, it’s easier to read the game from here and not everyone has to rely on me,” said Kay, the team’s captain and starting fly half for the UVic Vikes in the B.C. Premier League this year. “All three players are really comfortable at first receiver so it puts a lot less pressure on the No. 9.””

For the Island team, Taylor McGuire tested the back three with his kicking. He had his first clearance kick blocked for a U20 try but quickly adapted to the defensive line speed and put the U20 back three under pressure throughout the rest of the match with his kicks often finding land and not going to hand. He set up the second Island try with a nice chip kick to the wing. I’m not sure the U20 back three will see that level of kicking sophistication from opponents in Fiji, but something to keep an eye on. Isaac Gonevou, who wasn’t in the original roster, showed some strong running in the backline and Zephyr Melnyk at #8 had a good work rate throughout the match.

Like a lot of Canadian rugby fans, I’m looking forward to watching this U20 team in action, I hope the games have a good live stream available. The anticipation going into the tournament is that host Fiji, will be a class above, as they were in the senior Pacific Nations tournament last year. Samoa will be strong and Canada and Tonga will be evenly matched. Canada kick off the tournament on May 28th against Samoa, then Fiji on June 2nd and Tonga on June 7th.

Photos from the BCRN facebook page below.


Canada U20 Face a Vancouver Island XV on Thursday, May 15th at 7pm at UVic in Preparation for Fiji Tournament

The Canada U20 team are departing Monday for the Oceania Rugby U20 Challenge in Fiji. This warm up match will give coach Christiaan Esterhuizen a chance to evaluate players in match conditions before they depart. They will be playing an Island XV team collected from the 5 Island Premier teams, JBAA, CW, Westshore, UVic and Pride.

Is it a Crimson Tide rep team, we’ve had conflicting reports, from “It’s not a  Tide team – they are wearing Tide kit.  The team was put together and we were asked about kit as an after thought” to “we are operating under the Crimson Tide name”. So Island XV or Crimson Tide, you decide.

The Island team features a mix of veterans and young players. Zephyr Melnyk, who I thought would be on the Canada radar when he played for the Pride, takes the #8 role. Taylor McGuire is a veteran player from NZ, Canada eligible now, he’s starting #10. Ian Anderton-Teasdale on the wing just started with UVic last season, he played on the Div 1 team, he was at the MacDowell Rugby Academy in Cowichan in his final high school year. Sion Griffiths at outside centre plays for UVic Prems and was with CW before that, last year he played for the Highlanders and subbed in for the last 20′ against the Canada XV and scored two tries. There are a few Pride (Rugby Canada Academy) players in the starting XV, Conor Williams at tighthead, Braden Bruce at blindside flanker and Jean-Louis Descoutte at fullback. They should give the Canada U20 team a good run.

The Canada U20 will play two squads as they have 32 players to run out, they have a 1st half and 2nd half squad. They should find some extra space in the last 20 as the Island team runs out of fresh legs. Some key positions to watch, at #10 will be Jonty Nicholas and Evan Davies. Jonty was a Shawnigan Lake player, competing with UBC but playing behind James Biss on the Premier squad. He played fullback for the BC U19 team in 2024. Evan Davies is from the Balmy Beach Club in Ontario. At #8 are Liam Kinghorn and Josh du Toit from UBC.

We’ll try to get there for some photos and to take some notes. We’re not sure if there’s a live stream yet, we’ll update the article if we find a link. The kick off is Thursday at 7pm at Wallace Field from the most recent information we have.

Island XV

1 Steve Stadnyk JBAA
2 Antonio Corbin CW
3 Conor Williams PRIDE
4 Asfi Saeed JBAA
5 Connor McKenzie CW
6 Braden Bruce PRIDE
7 Brendyn Beck JBAA
8 Zephyr Melnyk WESTSHORE
9 Spike Street JBAA
10 Taylor McGuire WESTSHORE
11 Ian Anderton-Teasdale UVIC
12 Malik James JBAA
13 Sion Griffiths UVIC
14 Drew Belbin WESTSHORE
15 Jean-Louis Descoutte PRIDE
16 Ezra Vai JBAA
17 Dakota Lachance JBAA
18 Josh Petrov UVIC
19 Ryder Heany-Corns UVIC
20 Daragh Carroll WESTSHORE
21 Anthony Carroll WESTSHORE
22 Theron Koyote UVIC
23 Angus Boyd-Porter – UVIC

Canada U20

First Half Mins Second Half Mins
Cole Harris Kyle Finan
Allistair Yeomans Andrew Neveu
Angus Dewar James Noftall
Darragh Doyle Quinn Foley
Seb Poyser Ben Koolen
Coen Quin Finn Hughes
Adam Doane Keae Griffiths
Liam Kinghorn Josh du Toit
Stephen Webb Reece Thompson
Jonty Nicholas Evan Davies
Liam James Mitch Buie
Josh Mcindoe Jimmy Leach
Liam Turnbull Liam James
Sam Blundell Spencer Cotie
Kohl Kletke Joe Kaufmann
Daniel Lucic
Josh Weil
Daniel Muzaliwa Daniel Muzaliwa
Spencer Cotie Sam Blundell
Posted in Front Page, National Men's XVs.

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