As a member of the Canadian men’s rugby program it’s a matter of staying ready.
Thomas Isherwood found that out firsthand after getting word late in the game he would be joining Canada’s senior men’s senior rugby squad as the lone debutante at the HSBC Canada Sevens stop in Edmonton, Sept. 25-26.
“A lot of guys on the team have second jobs and I’ve been doing my carpentry apprenticeship on the side while I was training full-time,” said Isherwood, a Foothills Composite graduate in 2018. “I just finished work and got the call and they said ‘can you get to the airport within an hour?’
“Then I was on the plane going to Edmonton so a pretty quick turnaround.”
Isherwood, a product of the Foothills Lions Rugby Club now living in Langford, B.C. as a carded member of Canada’s Sevens program, didn’t let his opportunity pass.
“There was an injury so I got called up,” he said. “We play a high contact sport so of course injuries are going to happen so before they left they told me to be ready just in case.”
As fate would have it, the debut would come in his home province with Isherwood’s parents Chris and Samantha, family, friends and former Lions clubmates able to make the trek to Edmonton’s Commonwealth Stadium.
“It was an amazing experience, for him to do it in front of us with friends around us, Foothills Lions people… it was phenomenal,” said Samantha. “I was super proud, super excited, but also very nervous at the same time. Then to see him come out with the team, he went on for the last minute of the (first) game, it was a really emotional experience. You’re just proud.
“It’s what you dream about, really. From being a little boy, you ask him what he wanted to do when he grows up and he always wanted to be a professional rugby player. Seeing that come to fruition is just absolutely fantastic.”
Isherwood saw limited action as a substitute in Canada’s first match with Hong Kong before putting his fingerprints all over the team’s next contest.
“Just making my debut in my home province, I hadn’t seen my parents or my brother or anything in over a year due to COVID,” he said. “It was good to see them, and some buddies from my rugby team and high school friends from the Comp.
“So just running onto that field, hearing the roar of the crowd and wearing that maple leaf, what a great feeling that was. It was such an honour to be out there.”
It was the second game of the day where the fleet-footed former Falcon made his mark, scoring three tries in the 47-0 win over Mexico and becoming just the fourth Canadian to score three in a game on home soil.
“Being in the home province and with the home crowd you go from zero to one-hundred real quick,” he said. “Then to get two more (tries) at the end of the game, what a great feeling.”
Isherwood, sporting a head of hair that would make a young Björn Borg blush, first broke into the try-zone in the final seconds of the first-half on a support play. The second try came on an offload in support which allowed him to showcase his considerable speed and agility down the sidelines and he completed the trifecta by waltzing in behind the Mexico defence untouched late in the victory.
Canada went on to finish fourth in the event, dropping a 33-14 decision to Kenya in the bronze medal match. South Africa edged out Great Britain in the championship tilt.
The Canadians entered the competition with a revamped lineup on the heels of a number of high-profile retirements from the program following the Tokyo Olympics, a group that includes the likes of Nathan Hirayama, Harry Jones and Connor Braid.
“Being so young everyone was there to make something out of it,” said Isherwood of the team dynamic. “We’ve got to obviously live up to those standards now that they set going to the Olympics, but just training with those senior guys the last few years, you see how hard they work.
“It’s just about putting in the work and you see we finished fourth so it all paid off. The boys are just eager to accomplish something now.”
Going forward, the HSBC Sevens series kicks back into gear for the 2021-22 season in November with the first stop of the tour in Dubai.
Isherwood is set to head down to the United States to compete in a professional seven’s league, Premier Rugby Sevens, being set up and will be based out of Tennessee.
This next opportunity and many of the stepping stones along the way have been with experienced coach Robin MacDowell playing a large role.
“He’s played a massive part the last few years,” Isherwood said. “He was my coach with the U18 team that went to the Youth Olympic qualifiers, he’s brought me up to tournaments for him.
“He’s just been a great mentor along the way, always putting my name forward … I owe him quite a lot.”
Upon reflection of his leap into the senior men’s contingent, Isherwood noted how surreal it is to be living out his dream on the rugby pitch.
“Obviously, growing up in England my dad and I would go watch England in front of 80-thousand people,” he said. “It’s something I’ve always wanted, to be able to play rugby. I’ve put quite a lot of work in and now that it’s done and dusted and looking back now I can’t believe that I’ve done it.
“I’m a pro rugby player now and it’s quite an honour to do it at the national level. I played against South Africa, Kenya, Great Britain, three great rugby nations, got my first cap and just playing along with those world class Olympians, it’s just so surreal.
“I’m pretty proud of myself.”
