Sam Mace Announced as Second Signing for Vancouver Highlanders
Curry Hitchborn should be familiar with Sam Mace, he was the opposing front row player when the Toronto Arrows Academy defeated the BC Bears in the Coast to Coast Cup in the summer of 2023.
Sam started with the Pacific Pride in the fall of 2023 and was listed as hooker, although he can play across the front row. He started at tighthead prop when the Pride defeated UBC 42-19 in September 2023, he kept that position when the Pride defeated UVic 52-12 in Week 2 of the Coastal Cup. He had moved to starting hooker by Week 2 of the BC Premier when the Pride put a lopsided 47-5 score on CW, he remained at hooker until the last game of the season, the 40-15 win over Seattle in December.
In 2022 he signed with the Leeds Tykes rugby union side. They were playing in the National League 1 competition at the time. He was listed as hooker.
We go to the University of Ottawa website to get earlier information, in 2021 he’s listed as a 3rd year player, 5’11” and 235 lbs and a backrow player. From La Salle High School in Kingston he has a football and rugby background, playing for the football team the first year of university, he switched over to rugby in 2019. In 2021 he was named as a RSEQ (Quebec Conference) First Team All-Star and was drafted by the Toronto Arrows. He was also invited to the Ottawa Aces combine, the proposed professional Rugby League team in Ottawa.
This DJ Coil article has more information on him, from his judo background, his travels around the world growing up, and his majoring in Human Kinetics at the University of Ottawa.
Sam played club rugby with the Ottawa Bytown Blues.
So now after two signings is there a pattern emerging? Both players selected are very versatile, able to cover a number of positions. Both players could be considered as being in contention for the next World Cup squad, if Canada qualify. Both players are outside the current narrow pathway being considered by the national team coach, hopefully the Highlanders are going to make an impact in that area and widen the selection base for the national team.