by Jordan Parker
The Atlantic representatives had a strong showing in men’s and women’s play at the Canadian under-19 rugby championships.
The women’s team nabbed silver and the men’s team received bronze at the tournament, held from July 29-Aug. 4 at Acadia University in Wolfville.
“To have the ability to host this tournament locally was truly wonderful. After being in larger jurisdictions for the past three years, to be able to showcase the talent, and what Nova Scotia has to offer as a sport hosting destination, but also what a small province can do was fantastic” said executive director Vanessa MacKinnon
“The whole event was just thrilling to be a part of, to see high level rugby competition locally, and to see our Nova Scotia based athletes perform so well was truly rewarding.”
Both the men’s and women’s teams were named following the Atlantic rugby championships, held earlier in the month in Charlottetown and only came together to practice as a unit on July 24, a mere five days prior to championship play.
For the 2024 Canadian rugby championships, each region gets to field a team. With more than 300 participants for this specific event, there was team representation from British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario, Quebec and a combined Atlantic team for the men and women.
Provincial Performance Coach for Rugby Nova Scotia Emma Delory led the women’s Atlantic Team as head coach.
“The Canadian rugby championships is a great pathway for U19 athletes looking to make their way to the U20 and senior national teams. It offers good competition and training opportunities,” she said.
“Our team in the Atlantic strives to bring the best talent together and showcase what rugby out East looks like. We were very happy with our development over the week and although silver wasn’t the colour we were looking for, ultimately we felt we performed well and left the competition putting the Atlantic provinces on the map.”
Tim Hilton volunteered to run the tournament and his daughter, fly half Charlotte Hilton, played on the Atlantic women’s team.
“To see the teams succeeding is amazing. It’s an inclusive sport with spots on teams for all skills and sizes, and Rugby Nova Scotia develops players so well.” said Hilton.
This event is used for not only athlete development and showcase, but also development of national level referees, which saw 11 referees come in from across Canada, including three local female referees who got the chance to get development at the next level, with national level mentorship.
In conjunction with this event, Rugby Nova Scotia also hosted a youth jamboree for kids from under-10 to under-18, which saw more than 400 Nova Scotia youth come to Wolfville to be part of the action.
“Being able to have local kids from across Nova Scotia playing, while also hosting this event was wonderful, something we haven’t seen before in this province. The fields were buzzing with excitement,” said MacKinnon.
“The growth of rugby in the region has been phenomenal over the last couple years, and with the recent success of the women’s Rugby Sevens program at the Paris 2024 Olympics, winning a silver medal, led by former Rugby Nova Scotia provincial coach Jack Hanratty, we are only hoping to see this grow more.”
