The strong right boot of a Foothills Lion kicked Alberta onto the national podium.
Okotokian Thomas Isherwood finished as tournament leader scorer with 54 points as the U16 Boys Team Alberta earned silver at the Canadian Rugby Championships in Markham, Ont.
“It’s pretty awesome to be the top scorer in the nation for my age group,” Isherwood said. “I had lots of hard competition throughout the tournament so it did put a lot of pressure on me.”
The Foothills Composite student has come about his kicking game through honest hard work after idolizing one of England’s legendary fly-halfs.
“I do it before practice, after practice to work on everything I can do,” he said. “When I lived in England I used to watch my hero Jonny Wilkinson play, I watched him and copied what he did.
“I’ve been kicking since I was six or seven so it’s come along naturally.”
Both team and individual success was found in the Heartland Province.
Alberta earned its best ever finish in the age group at nationals despite succumbing to Team British Columbia by a 31-24 score in a competitive final. Isherwood contributed two trys and a pair of conversions in the narrow defeat.
“It was kind of upsetting,” said Isherwood, who played out of position at full-back. “But that was the closest we’ve ever been to winning gold for Alberta.”
Following a mediocre round-robin with just one win in three contests, the Wild Rose province turned it up to 11 in the playoff round with a pair of timely triumphs to advance to the national gold-medal game.
First, Alberta blanked B.C 3 by a 47-0 score as Isherwood knocked in six conversions and touched the ball down twice in the try zone.
The semifinal then saw the squad edge Ontario 1 in a 19-14 nailbiter.
“We came out in the second half and just knew we could beat them,” Isherwood said.
Isherwood finished the tournament with 13 conversions, five trys and one penalty kick.
His 54 points was more than three times the amount of the next highest scorer on the team and three points clear of the national’s second highest scorer, Newfoundland’s Laurie Baldwin.
He’s hoping to parlay his performance into an invitation to the Team Canada West U17 camp.
Alberta’s U16 Girls pushed their way to a podium finish with a strong week themselves.
The team, featuring Okotokians Larissa Little and Brogan Mior, trounced New Brunswick by a 66-0 count to claim the bronze medal in Ontario.
The host province edged B.C. to take the gold.
Little, a Foothills Composite student, contributed two trys in the competition.
Both Okotokians were making their debut at the national level.
In the U18 ranks, Foothills graduate Josh Clutterbuck and the Prairie Wolfpack finished third.
The Wolfpack picked up wins over Quebec and the Atlantic before falling in its tournament finale tilt to Ontario by a 17-16 count.
For more information go to canadianrugbychampionships.com
