Reid Watkins Announced as 15th Signing for Vancouver Highlanders
Reid Watkins has been named as the 15th Vancouver Highlanders signing. A talented scrum half who was a key part in the Seattle Seawolves run to the MLR final in 2022. He has played BC Premier with Burnaby since 2017 and was a member of the BC Bears team that won the McTier Cup in 2017. Originally from Okotoks, Alberta he has also has competed in wrestling at an elite level.
Reid currently plays for Burnaby in the BC Premier. In November of 2023 he earned his first cap for Canada, replacing Jason Higgins in the second half in the Canada match against Brazil during the La Vila tournament in Spain.
He played for the Seattle Seawolves in 2023 but didn’t get much game time, a selection in the reserves in week 15 and a start in week 18.
He played for Seattle Seawolves in 2022, getting much more game time that season. He was back up scrum half in the MLR final when Seattle faced New York. Overall he had 17 appearances for Seattle that season. In the fall of 2022 he played for Burnaby in the BC Premier.
In the 2019-2020 season Watkins was again playing for Burnaby in the BC Premier. In the summer of 2019 he was selected for a BC All-Star team that took on Canada as part of their 2019 World Cup preparation. In July of 2019 he was part of the BC Bears team that defeated the Prairie Wolf Pack in a two game series. In May he played for Vancouver in the McKechnie Cup competition.
In 2018-2019 he played for Burnaby in the BC Premier and helped Burnaby make the finals that year. In April of 2019 we did a poll of BC Premier coaches and came up with All Star recommendations, at #9 we wrote this: “Jorden Sandover-Best of the Ravens was a popular choice with mentions to Sam Fowler of Nanaimo, Reid Watkins of Burnaby and Fraser Hurst of UBC.” In the summer of 2018 he played for the BC Bears when they took on the British RAF touring team.
Reid played the 2017-2018 season with Burnaby in the BC Premier competition. Burnaby made it to the semi-finals that season. In the summer of 2017 the BC Bears won the McTier Cup with Phil Mack as player/coach and Reid Watkins was the reserve scrum half for the Bears.
The Seattle Seawolves website has further information on his career:
Originally from Okotoks, Alberta, Watkins considers the Pacific Northwest home, playing most of his adult rugby in British Columbia. Watkins began his rugby career with the Foothill Lions Rugby Club and attended Holy Trinity Academy in Alberta, where he also wrestled at a high level. The scrumhalf represented Canada at the age-grade level for rugby while also competing nationally and globally on the wrestling mat. Watkins attended Simon Fraser University, continuing to wrestle at the NCAA level. His move to a different province also provided more rugby opportunities in rep-side program British Columbia Bears, Burnaby Lake, Vancouver Island Crimson Tide, and most recently the Vancouver Wave. Stints in the United States also support Watkins growth with appearances for the US South Panthers and the Hartford Harpooners. Signed to the Toronto Arrows for the tail-end of the 2021 season after training with Rugby ATL’s Pathway 404 Academy for a few months, Watkins trained with the Arrows but didn’t make an appearance before their season ended. The 5’10, 185 lb. scrumhalf brings great field vision, technical contact skills, sharp decision making, and growth potential to the Seawolves as he prepares to make his MLR debut in 2022.