Canada

After six assemblies, four matches, and countless hours of training, the final twenty-six players to attend the Junior World Championships (JWC) in Wales this June have been selected to represent Canada's men’s  under 20 side.

Coach Tim Murdy, along with assistants Ian Hyde Lay and Tony Healy went through an exhaustive process, bringing players in from across the country for the past six months, assessing skills, charting strength gains, and finding out which mix of players would best be suited for the task of taking on England, Fiji and Australia in the newly created age grade category for the International Rugby Board (IRB) competition.

Following this past weekend's final trial match against a Canadian Invitational XV at Shawnigan Lake, the video was analyzed one final time and tough choices made as to who would board a plane to the UK to represent Canada.

"It was never easy to wade through the talent we have seen in these half dozen camps," said head coach Tim Murdy from Victoria. "But this is a tough competition, and just like the players have to make tough sacrifices, so to do the coaches have to make some tough choices as well."

Canada will be challenged by its pool opponents, but will be looking to stay in this top tier competition by winning at least one of the three matches, plus other games that come based on how they do in the opening round. A huge financial investment has been put into this young team, through the likes of contributions from the International Rugby Board through its high performance funding, and Rugby Canada as well as the Rugby Canada foundation, who have found private benefactors to help fund various players through personal sponsorships.

The Canadian U20 team will be playing another tune-up match when they take on the Hyde Lay XV - a long standing tradition for Canadian sides preparing for World Championship matches. The side will be made up from invitational players in Victoria, providing opposition for the Canadian U20 team. It will take place on May 10th at Shawnigan Lake.

Canada opens the World Championships in Wales on June 6th against Australia, then take on England on June 10th, with June 14th providing the last pool match against Fiji. Then Canada will play at least two more matches depending on the final Pool standings.

Name - Position (Most Recent club/Super League*/School/Hometown)

Mike Berg -  second row (UVic, Burnaby, BC)
Kyle Buckley wing (Balmy Beach/McGill U, Ajax, ON)
Justin Chelak prop (UBC Old Boy Ravens/Langara, Vancouver, BC)
Alistair Crow wing/fullback (Crimson Tide/Castaway Wanderers/McGill U, Victoria, BC)
Thyssen DeGoede flanker (James Bay AA, Victoria, BC)
Matt Evans centre/fly-half (Hartpury College/Cowichan RFC, Victoria, BC)
Ryan Hamilton hooker (Capilano RFC/UVic Vikes, Vancouver, BC)
Nathan Hirayama flyhalf (UVic Vikes, Vancouver, BC)
Peter Jawl fly-half (Castaway Wanderers/UWO Mustangs, Victoria, BC)
Harry Jones fullback (Capilano RFC/UBC T-Birds, Vancouver, BC)
Jamie Mackenzie scrum-half (Niagara Thunder/Oakville Crusaders, Oakville, ON)
Ian Manly flanker (Crimson Tide/Cowichan RFC - Shawnigan Lake, BC)
Russ Meidinger hooker (Strathcona Druids, Edmonton, AB
Sebastien Pearson No. 8 (Leicester Academy/Lindsay Gryphons, Lindsay, ON)
Mauro Perizzolo Prop (Burnaby Lake, Burnaby, BC)
Struan Robertson No. 8 (UVic Vikes, Victoria, BC)
Josh Schlebac second row (Calgary Irish/U of Calgary Dinos, Calgary, AB)
Mike Scholtz centre (Niagara Thunder/Oakville Crusaders/McMaster U, Oakville, ON)
Keegan Selby flanker (Lindsay Gryphons/McMaster U, Lindsay, ON)
Ty Shannon wing/fullback (UVic Vikes/Port Alberni Blacksheep, Port Alberni, BC)
Andy Tiedemann prop (St Albert RFC/UVic Vikes, St Albert, Alberta)
Conor Trainor centre (U21 Mangere Magic NZ/StGeorge's/Vancouver, BC)
Russ Ward prop (UVic Vikes/Irish Canadians, Toronto, ON)
Sean White scrum-half (Crimson Tide/James Bay AA, Victoria, BC)
Jordan Wilson Ross wing (Alliston Timberwolves, Alliston, ON)
Toni Wodzicki second row/back row (Quebec Caribou/Montreal Wanderers, Montreal, PQ

Non Traveling Reserves

Chris Barrett wing (Queen's University, Vancouver, BC)
Mike Berry flanker (Belleville Bulldogs/Brock U, Trenton, ON)
Brett Buekeboom second row (Cowichan RFC/Lindsay Gryphons, Lindsay, ON)
Chris Burt hooker (Swilers RFC, St. John's, NFLD)
Jeff Campbell wing/centre (UVic Vikes, Victoria, BC)
Lucas DeBeer  scrum-half (Abbotsford RFC/UBC T-Birds, Abbotsford, BC)
Ryan Fried prop (Waterloo County RFC - Waterloo, ON)
Alex Hull second row (Begles Bordeax, France, Cobble Hill, BC)
Brett Kelly back row/second row (Cowichan/St Albert Rugby Club, St Albert, Alberta)
Evan Mallory hooker (U Vic Vikes, North Vancouver, BC)
Scott Manning wing (Edmonton Gold/Strathcona Druids, Edmonton, AB)
Matt Mosby flanker (Royal Military College - Lethbridge, Alberta)
Dave Owens lock/back row (Capilano RFC, Vancouver, BC)
Dakota Poole second row (Kelowna RFC, Kelowna, BC)
Mackenzie Poole fullback (Castaway Wanders, Victoria,BC)
Cole Racine  prop (Markham RFC - Markham, ON)
Hayden Robbins back row UVic Vikes/Capilano, West Vancouver, BC)

Coach: Tim Murdy
Assistants: Ian Hyde Lay, Tony Healy
Strength and Conditioning Coach: Joe McCullum

For more information on the Junior World Championships go to http://www.irb.com/jwc/index.html