Seven BC athletes will represent Team Canada in Rugby Sevens at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, England taking place July 28 to August 8, 2022.
Commonwealth Sport Canada (CSC) and Rugby Canada on Tuesday announced the Men’s and Women’s rosters that will make up the two teams heading to England later this month.
Congratulations to Abbotsford’s Nakisa Levale (Abbotsford RFC) on being selected to the Women’s team.
Congratulations to Abbotsford’s Jake Thiel (Abbotsford RFC), North Vancouver’s Nick Allen (UBC), Vancouver’s Phil Berna (Vancouver Rowing Club RFC), and Victoria’s Anton Ngongo (Castaway Wanderers), Lachlan Kratz (NOLA Gold) and Ciaran Breen (Cowichan RFC) on their selection to the Men’s Team.
Special mention to University of Victoria Vikes Renee Gonzalez (Toronto, ON), Pamphinette Buisa (Gatineau, QC) and Krissy Scurfield (Canmore, AB), Westshore RFC’s Fancy Bermudez (Edmonton, AB), and UBC Thunderbirds’ Piper Logan (Calgary, AB) on their selection to the Women’s team, as well as Castaway Wanderers’ Josiah Morra (Toronto, ON) and Pacific Pride duo D’Shawn Bowen (Toronto, ON) and Matthew Oworu (Calgary, AB) for their selection to the Men’s team.
TEAM CANADA ROSTERS FOR 2022 COMMONWEALTH GAMES
Canada’s Women’s Sevens team which will represent Canada at the Birmingham 2022 includes:
- Olivia De Couvreur (Ottawa, ON) – Ottawa Irish
- Renee Gonzalez (Toronto, ON) – University of Victoria
- Pamphinette Buisa (Gatineau, QC) – Ottawa Irish/University of Victoria
- Breanne Nicholas (Blenheim, ON) – London St. Georges
- Nakisa Levale (Abbotsford, BC) – Abbotsford RFC
- Emma Chown (Barrie, ON) – Aurora Barbarians & Queen’s University
- Chloe Daniels (Sutton, ON) – RC Maple Leafs Academy/Queens University
- Bianca Farella (Montreal, QC) – Town of Mount Royal RFC
- Olivia Apps (Lindsay, ON) – Lindsay RFC
- Fancy Bermudez (Edmonton, AB) – Nor’wester Athletic Association/Westshore RFC
- Piper Logan (Calgary, AB) – Calgary Hornets/UBC Thunderbirds
- Keyara Wardley (Vulcan, AB) – Okotoks Lions
- Krissy Scurfield (Canmore, AB) – University of Victoria
Canada’s Men’s Sevens team which will represent Canada at the Birmingham 2022 includes:
- Anton Ngongo (Victoria, BC) – Castaway Wanderers
- Jake Thiel (Abbotsford, BC) – Abbotsford RFC
- Nick Allen (North Vancouver, BC) – University of British Columbia
- Phil Berna (Vancouver, BC) – Vancouver Rowing Club
- Alex Russell (Chichester, ENG) – McGill University
- Josiah Morra (Toronto, ON) – Castaway Wanderers/Toronto Saracens
- Brock Webster (Uxbridge, ON) – Oshawa Vikings RFC
- Cooper Coats (Halifax, NS) – Halifax Tars
- D’Shawn Bowen (Toronto, ON) – Pacific Pride
- Lachlan Kratz (Victoria, BC) – NOLA Gold
- Ciaran Breen (Victoria, BC) – Cowichan RFC
- Matthew Oworu (Calgary, AB) – Pacific Pride
- Elias Hancock (Ottawa, ON) – Bytown Blues
ABOUT THE 2022 COMMONWEALTH GAMES
“It’s an honour for each and every one of the team to represent their country at the Commonwealth Games. We go there with a real hunger to make it into the medal rounds. This new, young squad want to show they have what it takes to perform. We’re delighted to be able to welcome Piper [Logan] into the group for her first callup and it shows the strength of our depth chart that we continue to hand out debuts at this time of year following the conclusion of the HSBC Sevens Series.” Canada’s Women’s Head Coach Jack Hanratty
“Heading into the Commonwealth Games, we are delighted with the timely return of Josiah [Morra] back into the roster following injury. This competition provides the team with an opportunity to represent their country at one of the most renowned major games in the world. The competition is fierce with both the Olympic Gold (Fiji) and Silver (New Zealand) medalists in action and with both countries currently playing at the highest level. We’re heading to the UK excited and also determined to make our mark on the tournament, with the quality of opposition it will take the maximum concentration and efforts of all our squad to do this.” Canada’s Men’s Sevens Head Coach Henry Paul
Team Canada leadership are eager to see Canada’s best Rugby players play for it all on the rugby pitch.
“Rugby 7s has been played at every Commonwealth Games since Kuala Lumpur 1998, but the women’s event played for the first time at Gold Coast 2018. Knowing the caliber of both the women’s and men’s teams, we can’t wait to see Canada take on the strongest teams in the Commonwealth and fight for medals.” Scott Stevenson, Executive Director, Team Canada 2022
The Women’s team sees Piper Logan of Calgary, AB receive her first international call up, while Chloe Daniels returns to the roster after missing both the Langford and France Sevens. Having represented Canada’s Senior Women’s 15s at the Pacific Four Series in New Zealand last month, crossover athletes Pamphinette Buisa and Renee Gonzalez return to Sevens action. Breanne Nicholas and Olivia Apps will co-captain the side.
The Men’s roster includes three crossover athletes – Cooper Coats, Brock Webster and Matthew Oworu – who all started in Canada’s Men’s 15s international Test match against Spain in Ottawa last weekend. Ciaran Breen is named on the roster for the first time this year having rejoined the team’s training environment in May following his stint playing professionally in France, while Josiah Morra returns to the side after recovering from injury. Phil Berna will captain the Men’s team.
The Rugby Sevens competition will take place at Coventry Stadium from Friday July 29 to Sunday July 31.
Birmingham 2022 will feature 19 sports and 8 para-sports as part of its program with up to 4,500 athletes taking part. The Commonwealth Games are the only multi-sport event that feature equal standing for sport and para-sport events, and these 2022 Games will showcase the largest para-sport program ever. In addition, for the first time in its history, the Games will feature more medal events for women (135) than men (133).