鈥淓ver since I was a kid, I knew I wanted to play in the World Cup,鈥� said Braid by phone from Toronto, where sa国际传媒鈥檚 team to the 2015 World Cup in Britain was unveiled Tuesday.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a great feeling and it鈥檚 exciting,鈥� added the Oak Bay High and James Bay Athletic Association product.
Any national team has its automatic selections. Other players, noted Braid, need to make themselves useful in any way they can.
鈥淚 got more versatile in my game and played four positions when I played pro for Glasgow Warriors and London Scottish,鈥� he said.
鈥淚 turned more into a centre and utility player.鈥�
Also named to the final 31-player Canadian World Cup roster is another Oak Bay High-JBAA product, Phil Mack, along with Ciaran Hearn, Ray Barkwill, Hubert Buydens and Nanyak Dala from the Castaway Wanderers of Oak Bay, Nathan Hirayama of the University of Victoria Vikes, John Moonlight of JBAA, Cornish Pirates pro Matt Evans from Duncan and Scarlets pro DTH van der Merwe of Victoria heading to his third World Cup. Also named were UVic Vikes alumni Brett Beukeboom from the Cornish Pirates, Andrew Tiedemann and brothers Phil and Jamie Mackenzie.
Tyler Ardron will make his World Cup debut by captaining the Canadian team, based at the Rugby sa国际传媒 Centre of Excellence in Langford, which recently announced a $7.8-million upgrade.
There are 17 forwards and 14 backs, with 11 players hailing from Ontario, 10 from sa国际传媒, four from Alberta, two from Saskatchewan and one each from Quebec, New Brunswick and Newfoundland. The other player is a Canadian from England.
sa国际传媒 has appeared in every World Cup.
鈥淔or all of the players selected, the World Cup represents rugby鈥檚 greatest stage, and we have an opportunity to uphold sa国际传媒鈥檚 history dating back to 1987,鈥� said head coach Kieran Crowley of Mill Bay, who played in that inaugural World Cup for the champion New Zealand All Blacks.
The Canadian team is young, with Braid among 18 players making their World Cup debuts and only 650 caps among the 31 players. Clermont Auvergne pro Jamie Cudmore of Squamish is the most experienced on the team and enters his fourth World Cup, joining Gareth Rees of Victoria and Al Charron, Rod Snow and Mike James as the only Canadian players to have reached that plateau.
sa国际传媒 has lost its last seven Tests, including two on the final plays of the games.
鈥淲e got complacent after gaining the leads in the final five minutes of some games and we need to get mentally tougher,鈥� said the versatile Braid, also part of sa国际传媒鈥檚 loss in sevens to the U.S. in the qualifier for the 2016 Summer Olympics, with a final shot at Rio next year through the last-chance tournament.
鈥淲e are in a funk right now but we are also a confident group because we know we can do it and win those tight games.鈥�
World 18th-ranked sa国际传媒 has a non-Test match Saturday in Halifax against pro club Glasgow Warriors in what is dubbed the Battle of New Scotland. That is followed by pre-World Cup Tests against Georgia on Sept. 2 in Esher, England, and against Fiji on Sept. 6 at The Stoop in London.
sa国际传媒 opens the 2015 World Cup against No. 2 Ireland on Sept. 19 at Millennium Stadium in Cardiff. The other Group D matches for sa国际传媒 are Sept. 26 versus Italy in Leeds, Oct. 1 against 2011 World Cup runner-up France in Milton Keynes and Oct. 6 against Romania in Leicester.
sa国际传媒 began its 2015 World Cup lead-up with a training camp in July at Shawnigan Lake School.
SCRUM NOTES: Graham Brown, instrumental in establishing the Centre of Excellence in Langford, will step down as CEO of Rugby sa国际传媒 following the World Cup after 13 years in the position. In a statement, Rugby sa国际传媒 credited Brown with turning rugby into a mainstream sport in sa国际传媒.
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