MacDowell Rugby sent nearly 100 athletes on seven teams to the 2024 Tropical Rugby 7s international rugby tournament in Tampa, Florida over the Easter long weekend and have returned home after 41 games with a championship title, a mixed bag of other results, and memories to last a lifetime.
MacDowell’s U18 girls placed fifth of 24 teams. That roster included recent University of Victoria recruits Bella Anderton-Teasedale and Kirianne Healey from Duncan as well as Elyse Henwood of Ladysmith.
“Roughly half the kids on each roster are either in our Prairie Academy or the Island Academy here in Cowichan,” noted Robin MacDowell, the MacDowell Rugby Academy’s leader. “The exciting things is now these kids have come back and they’re going straight into the high school season with that momentum.”
MacDowell Rugby teams also placed third and sixth in the U16 girls 12-team event, proving the strength of the program’s up and comers. U16 players from Cowichan included Lucy Healey and Rafielle Barrack.
As for the MacDowell Rugby boys, the U16 boys didn’t fare as well as their female counterparts, eventually placing 18th of 20 teams overall. Included on that team from the Cowichan region were Trace Barrack, Declan Anderson, Landon Jaswall, and Cameron Healey.
The program’s U18 elite boys, which included Duncan’s Iain Anderton-Teasedale, Luke Prest and Jeremy Seymour, placed 10th of 16 while MacDowell Rugby’s U18 boys open team, featuring Cowichan’s Parker Bertrand, AJ Irvine, and Lochlan Kapuscinski, placed 20th of 24 teams in their division.
Playing top-tier talent doesn’t always go the way teams hope but the experience was important nevertheless, MacDowell said.
“It was really positive. Both in our academy and on our tours we try and create positive experiences on and off the field with some of the best staff in the world in our programs, and we also try to create a high performance environment so it’s not just about going somewhere sunny and playing rugby it’s actually learning how to be a professional athlete so we can continue to put these kids into university programs and professional programs and national programs.”
Also at the tournament, the BC Bears U16 girls team, which included Cowichan Rugby Club’s Amelia Handysides of Duncan, placed fourth overall in the U16 girls elite division, falling just short of the medals.
The Bears went 2-1 in pool play to advance to the quarterfinals, where they beat Toronto 17-5. In the semi-final against USA Rugby South Panther Academy’s red team, the Bears lost 21-10, forcing them to play for third and fourth against the All Midwest Thunderbirds. The Bears lost 10-7, ultimately placing fourth.
In addition to the youth teams representing the academy’s touring side, MacDowell put together a team of elite women to compete in the inaugural senior women’s elite division. They went undefeated the entire way, winning their championship final handily.
MacDowell himself coached the senior women.
“For our boys and girls to be able to watch them play, train, and win it all was super special from a knowledge transfer piece and having our programs develop so many incredible young women, that is motivation for me to continue to build pathways for those athletes,” he said.
Visit www.macdowellrugby.ca to learn more about the MacDowell Rugby Academy.