Hamson, Johnson and Bailey named in Canada squad for America Rugby Championship
Rugby Nova Scotia – Mike Hamson (Halifax, NS) , Brett Johnson (Truro, NS) and Kyle Baillie (Summerside, PEI), have been named to Canada’s inaugural squad for the upcoming Americas Rugby Championship. The three will travel to Victoria, BC to prepare for matches against Uruguay, Chile, Argentina, Brazil and the United States.
This will be the first time Nova Scotia has placed players on the Senior Men’s team since the team was captained by Morgan Williams in the late 1990’s. Interim Head Coach Francois Ratier, who has taken over from long standing Head Coach Kieran Crowley, has named a squad that has been selected primarily from players in last year’s Canadian Rugby Championship.
Hamson has been a stalwart for the Halifax Tars RFC for many years, captaining the team to the Maritime Championship this season and has been not only a senior player but an MVP for the Keltics Senior men’s teams over the last number of seasons, scoring two tries during this years victory over Quebec.
Johnson burst onto the scene two years ago representing his club, Truro Saints RFC, winning two Nova Scotia Division Two titles in the last three seasons. He represented the Senior men’s Keltics over the last number of seasons and was man of the match in the historic victory over Newfoundland in July.
Bailie has represented PEI at U16 and U18 level while also playing a season in Australia for the club side Eastern Suburbs. Bailie has since moved to Nova Scotia playing for Halifax Tars RFC and has been training out of the CSC Atlantic and with the Keltics Senior men’s side. This year he also became the head coach of the Nova Scotia Keltics U18 7’s program.
In addition to, Pat Parfrey Jr. of the Newfoundland Rock, has also been selected from the Atlantic region.
“ We are ecstatic to have players exchange Keltics blue for the red of Canada” said Keltics coach Jack Hanratty. “ Our focus over the last three years has been to move our players from club rugby, through provincial and regional rugby and on to National squads. We have had success with age grade teams, senior women and now senior men. Having had Emma (Taylor) capped this year for the National senior women’s side and now the three local players in the senior men’s squad is an inspiration to all young athletes in the province”.
The Canadian side play their first game of the championship on February 6th at 4 pm in Westhills Stadium, Langford BC. Games will be streamed live, details to be released later and available through the Rugby Canada website, Face Book page and other social media streams.
Americas Rugby Championship | 2016 Competition Calendar
(Home v Away)
Round 1 – Weekend of Feb. 6 -7, 2016
Canada v Uruguay
USA v Argentina
Chile v Brazil
Round 2 – Weekend of Feb. 13 – 14, 2016
USA v Canada
Argentina v Chile
Brazil v Uruguay
Round 3 – Weekend of Feb. 20 -21, 2016
Canada v Brazil
USA v Chile
Uruguay v Argentina
Round 4 – Weekend of Feb. 27 – 28, 2016
Argentina v Canada
Brazil v USA
Chile v Uruguay
Round 5 – Weekend of March 5 – 6, 2016
Chile v Canada
Uruguay v USA
Brazil v Argentina
Anna Carew
Rugby Nova Scotia
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902 441 7791