The beard certainly fits with the Canadian motif and the name sounds familiar to longtime North Shore rugby fans, but the voice sounds pure Australian.
So who is this Evan Olmstead guy who is about to make his Rugby World Cup debut with Canada’s senior men’s national team?
He’s a North Shore boy at heart, blazing a path to rugby glory that would have made his father — former Capilano Rugby Club president and longtime club supporter John Olmstead — very proud.
Evan was born at Lions Gate Hospital and lived in North Vancouver until he was three years old when John — a Canadian through and through — took a job in Sydney, Australia.
“It was initially supposed to be just for two years, and then that became four, and that became 21,” Evan explains with a distinct Australian accent. “We pretty much just stayed.”
John, however, wouldn’t let the family forget two of his most beloved passions — rugby and Canada. The Olmstead family kept tabs on the Canadian national rugby team, taking in all of the squad’s games when Australia hosted the World Cup in 2003. In 2007 the family took a vacation to France to take in the World Cup again. Sadly it would be the last full family vacation for the Olmsteads as John died of a heart attack in 2008. The news shook communities on opposite sides of the world.
“Dad had two wakes — one was in Australia and one was at the Capilano club,” Evan says. There’s now a plaque in the stands at Klahanie Park bearing John Olmstead’s name, a special place for the family. “I think he made a lot of really good friends playing there. I think friends went to play there because of dad. They were just a good group of guys, I guess.”
Evan, meanwhile, developed a passion for his father’s sport and as a teenager grew into a standout rugby player. The Australian U20 national team was sniffing around, inquiring about his services, and Evan had a choice to make: would he run with the wallabies or would he buy a toque and throw it into the ring back in Canada?
A lot of factors went into his decision. Australia has an elite team, higher ranked than Canada, but it would be harder to make the lineup and stay at the top level. The Olmstead family wanted him to honour their heritage — mother Coleen is straight- up Canadian too — and wear the Maple Leaf.
In the end, Evan says it wasn’t a difficult choice at all.
“To represent the country where I’m from, all my family…. I went for it,” he says. “I’ve always been very attached to Canada despite living in Australia and sounding not particularly Canadian. I had that history watching the team, chasing them around.”
Now 24, Evan first played for Canada at the U20 level, suiting up at the World Junior Trophy tournament held in Georgia in 2011. After a few seasons on Australian clubs he found himself searching for a team and landed with the Prairie Wolf Pack for the Canadian Rugby Championship season in 2014. Evan thrived, helping the Wolf Pack to their best-ever finish and earning himself a selection onto Canada’s “A” team, one step below the senior national team. He showed well, eventually forcing his way onto the senior team to make his debut in the 2015 Pacific Nations Cup against Samoa on July 29 in Toronto. He’s now earned four caps for Canada as well as a coveted spot on the World Cup team. All in all, it’s worked out pretty well for the North Shore boy.
“I’m absolutely thrilled,” he says. “It’s a great group of guys, it’s a very special team, the coaching staff is really good, I’m improving a lot as a player just being with these guys pointing out little bits and pieces to work on. I’m in better shape than I’ve been in in my life…. Definitely, without a doubt, it was the right decision.”
The World Cup, hosted by England and Wales, kicks off Friday with Canada getting into the action Saturday against Ireland in Cardiff, Wales. Canada’s other matches, all shown live on TSN, will be played Sept. 26 against Italy, Oct. 1 against France, and Oct. 6 against Romania.
“It’s really exciting — we’ve got our World Cup kit, it’s all branded with the logo,” Evan says. The roster hasn’t been set for the first fixture but Evan, playing lock, is hoping he can bull his way to as much playing time as possible. “I think I’m the least-capped player on the team. I’m making my run at the right time though…. I don’t want to get to the World Cup and just be a squad member. I want to get on the starting team, I want to play as many minutes as I can get.”
Whatever playing time he gets, Evan says he’s happy to represent the rugby club his father helped build alongside fellow Capilano World Cup players Jamie Cudmore, Jason Marshall and Harry Jones. Aside from a few youth games during family vacations back to Canada, Evan has never played for Capilano but he’s thrilled that the club has basically adopted him as an honourary member. He’s got an inside source on the North Shore — his grandmother still lives in North Vancouver.
“She reads (the North Shore News) a lot — any time there’s a mention of the Capilanos she cuts out the article and sends it to us in Australia,” he says with a laugh.
The jersey from Evan’s first game with the Canadian national team carries special significance for the Olmstead family.
“I knew that that first jersey would be a special one that I’d get framed up and put it in the house,” he says. “That would be a little bit of a tribute to dad and his support and encouragement over the years.”
Evan has a pretty good idea of what his father would think about his boy playing for Canada in a Rugby World Cup.
“He would have been absolutely thrilled,” Evan says. “He would have been absolutely over the moon. He loves rugby, most of all, and obviously was a big supporter of mine. I don’t think anything would have made him happier.”
