Pacific Pride (rugby union)

Pacific Pride

Full name	Rugby Canada National Development Academy
Union	Rugby Canada
Founded	2019
Ground(s)	Starlight Stadium
Coach(es)	Phil Mack
League(s)	British Columbia Premier League Coastal Cup

The Rugby Canada National Development Academy or Pacific Pride is a Canadian rugby union team that is based in Langford, British Columbia. The team acts as the high-performance development academy for Rugby Canada.[1]

History

Originally active between 1996 and 2005, the Pacific Pride program was developed as a U-23 academy to support the development of young players in Canada. David Clark was the inaugural head coach of the program. The original incarnation of the Pacific Pride program was run by Rugby Canada and the Commonwealth Centre for Sport Development.

The Pride was resurrected in 2019 as a high-performance development academy intended for players between the ages of 18 and 24.[2]

Personnel

Current squad

The 2021-22 Canadian Development Academy squad.[3]

Backs Player Position Year Caleb Barker Scrum-half 1 Sam Reimer Scrum-half 1 Sean Snyman Scrum-half 1 Kai Khan Fly-half 1 Max Stewart Fly-half 1 Justin Taylor Fly-half 1 Taylor de Souza Centre 1 Dawson Fatoric Centre 1 Sion Griffiths Centre 2 Isaac Olson Centre 2 D'Shawn Bowen Wing 3 Oliver Mackenzie Wing 1 Jack Morris Wing 1 Anton Ngongo Wing 3 Kal Sager Wing 1 Gabriel Smith Wing 1 Mark Balaski Full-back 1

Forwards Player Position Year Peter Ingoldsby Hooker 1 Owen Lavado Hooker 1 Tyler Wong Hooker 2 Chris Atkinson Prop 2 Daniel Cooper Prop 1 Aaron Clarke Prop 1 William den Ouden Prop 1 Tyler Matchem Prop 1 Kyle Steeves Prop 1 Callum Botchar Lock 1 Alistair Bruce Lock 1 Thomas Davidson Lock 3 Callum O'Neill Lock 1 Conor Turner Lock 1 Noah Flesch Back row 1 Ethan Fryer Back row 1 Matt Klimchuk Back row 1 Zephyr Melnyk Back row 1 Cody Nhanala Back row 3 Zack Raymond Back row 1 Taitusi Vikilani Back row 3

Coaching Staff

• Head Coach: Phil Mack

Former head coaches

• Jamie Cudmore (2019-2021)[4]

References

1. "Rugby Canada resurrects Pacific Pride program, looking to develop young talent". cbc.ca. Retrieved 6 June 2021.
2. "Pacific Pride to be led by one of Canada's most prominent rugby exports". rugbycanada.ca. Retrieved 6 June 2021.
3. Mark Bryan (5 January 2022). "Pacific Pride Players for Second Half of 21/22 Season". Retrieved 23 January 2022.
4. "Canadian rugby coach fired following tweets criticizing Olympic women's team". nationalpost.com. Retrieved 31 July 2021.

External links

• Rugby Canada's Home Page