FOUR North Shore rugby stars will play major roles on three different Canadian teams at the prestigious International Rugby Board HSBC Hong Kong Sevens tournament starting tomorrow and running until Sunday.
North Vancouver's Nathan Yanagiya will join British Columbia's under-18 provincial sevens rugby team for the Hong Kong Youth 7s tournament.
The under-18 team will compete on Day 1 of the tournament before many of the world's best senior squads, including Canada's national team, take the field. Yanagiya and the rest of the U18 squad recently competed in the Las Vegas International High School Rugby Sevens tournament where they went undefeated to claim the title.
Yanagiya, a Carson Graham student and Capilano Rugby Club member, is one of four players who has played in the B.C. Elite Youth Sevens program since its inception 18 months ago and he represented Canada at the Youth Commonwealth Games held last September.
On Friday the senior men will take centre stage and West Vancouver's Harry Jones will get in on the action with Canada's national sevens team. The senior men are also coming off a strong showing in Las Vegas, winning the tournament with victories over the United States, Uruguay,
Japan and Australia. Jones, a Rockridge secondary grad, is a member of the University of British Columbia's varsity rugby team.
On the women's side Andrea Burk and Mandy Marchak will try to help the Canadian national team defend their Hong Kong Sevens title won last year when their tournament also kicks off on Friday. Hard-charging Marchak, a Winnipeg native, will be called upon to score for the Canadians while North Vancouver's Burk will likely focus her strong tackling skills on the defensive side of the ball. Both are members of the Capilano Rugby Club.
Rugby sevens will make its debut as an Olympic sport at the 2016 Games in Rio.
