A rugby player who hails from Maple Ridge has been named to the national men's sevens team for the invitational tournament coming to Vancouver this week.
Ethan Turner, who plays out of the Burnaby Lake Rugby Club, is one of 16 players named to the team.
Turner will be taking part in the men's invitational on Friday and Saturday, Feb. 21 and 22, at BC Place in Vancouver, where the team will be playing Japan and Trinidad-Tobago in a double round-robin. The invitational is taking place alongside the HSBC SVNS Vancouver.
On his LinkedIn page, Turner describes himself as a critical thinker and data-driven decision maker, who "strives for excellence and thrives under pressure."
From 2018 to 2021 he volunteered as an assistant youth coordinator for the Abbotsford Rugby Football Club, where he helped to organize and run rugby events.
Currently he volunteers his time coaching mini's rugby at his home club in Burnaby.
On Rugby Canada's website head coach Sean White noted that the team has been in camp for about a week in Langford, where he noted a real excitement and energy among the players.
"I feel there's a good mix of size and speed, youthfulness and experience. With four games in Vancouver, we will be able to continue to work on our cohesion and fine tune our game in front of one of the best crowds on the series," he said.
Other B.C. players to make the cut were: Rhys James from Kelowna; James Thiel and Noah Bain from Abbotsford; Kyle Tremblay from White Rock; Johnny Franklin from Bowen Island; and Ben Greenstein from Vancouver.
Following the Vancouver tournament, the Canada91ÂãÁÄÊÓƵ™s Men91ÂãÁÄÊÓƵ™s Sevens team will travel to Cape Town, South Africa, for the first two tournaments in the World Rugby HSBC Sevens Challenger, which takes place on back-to-back weekends, kicking off March 1. This is the next step to qualify for the 2026 HSBC SVNS series.
Canada91ÂãÁÄÊÓƵ™s roster for Cape Town will be announced following the HSBC SVNS Vancouver.
The team will then compete in the final World Rugby HSBC Sevens Challenger stop in Krakow, Poland, April 11 and 12.
The top four teams from the World Rugby HSBC Sevens Challenger will secure a spot in the promotion and relegation play-off competition at the HSBC SVNS World Championship taking place May 3 to 4 in Los Angeles, at which four HSBC SVNS 2026 berths are up for grabs.
Tickets for HSBC SVNS Vancouver are available at .
Canada Men's Sevens takes on Trinidad-Tobago at 1:30 p.m., and then they face Japan at 6:57 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 21.
On Saturday, Feb. 22, the team takes on Trinidad-Tobago again at 3:30 p.m. and at 6:19 p.m. they face Japan.
All games will be broadcast on TSN and TSN+.
