A couple of Prince Albert rugby players will be representing Saskatchewan at the Western Canadian Rugby Championship next weekend in Calgary.
Matthew Tysiaczny and Cam Neudorf will make the trip to the largest city in Alberta to compete.
Tysaiczny, who is only in his second year playing rugby, says he is looking forward to playing in the Western Canadian Championships again.
“I’ve worked for this. I’ve played for this I’ve ever since last year in Westerns. We went to Kelowna and we did horrible. That was what motivated me to be better this year because also, last year was my first year of rugby ever.”
Growing up, Tysiaczny was primarily a football player. He says he enjoys the physicality of playing rugby.
“I’ve played football my whole life, eight years, and I was never good at the technical stuff in football. I was just good at running and being a tough smashmouth type of player. Rugby is literally being a tough smashmouth football player on the field at all times. It’s just a better football in my opinion.”
Cam Neudorf was unable to attend Western Canadians a year ago. He says he is looking forward to playing rugby alongside Tysiaczny and the rest of his Saskatchewan teammates.
“We’ve been practicing together for two years, and we’ve been playing on a men’s league together. I’m excited to finally play with him and play with a bunch of other guys who play rugby because rugby’s not the most popular among youth here in Prince Albert, so I’m excited to go play with a bunch of people who are passionate about it.”
Like Tysiaczny, Neudorf also grew up playing football before turning to rugby. It was actually a former football coach who got him interested in the sport.
“I was sitting in my school one day and one of my football coaches came by and asked if I wanted to play,” Neudorf remembers. “I had been thinking about it for a while, I was super excited and said yes and started going out to the men’s league practices and those are super fun.”
Both players have suited up for the Prince Albert Whiskey Jacks and Saskatoon Gophers during the 2023 season. Neudorf says that extra experience should help them in Calgary.
Team Saskatchewan opens Western Canadian Rugby Championship play at 9 a.m. on Friday, Aug. 4 against Team Ontario at Calgary Rugby Park. They play Team Alberta Friday afternoon, then face Team B.C. and Team Atlantic Rock on Saturday. The tournament runs until Sunday, Aug. 6.
A total of four Prince Albert rugby players will represent Team Saskatchewan at the Western Canadian Rugby Championship. The other two are Josephine Tolentino, who will suit up for Saskatchewan’s U18 Women’s Team, and Sarah Murphy will play for the U16 Girl’s Team.
The U16 squad also opens the tournament on Friday against Ontario, while the U18 team faces British Columbia.
sports@paherald.sk.ca
