Wednesday, October 12, 2011 - Submitted by By Tom Kennedy for Rugby Canada

Three years ago, eight members of Canada's Rugby World Cup squad were representing their country on a different stage, with the national under-20 program.

Rugby World Cup 2011 participants Matt Evans, Ryan Hamilton, Nathan Hirayama, Jamie Mackenzie, Mike Scholz, Andrew Tiedemann, Conor Trainor and Sean White were all members of Canada's 2008 under-20 side. Trainor was also a member of the 2009 side and White was the 2008 winner of the Stuart Pegg Award, voted by his teammates as the most valuable player on the field.

 The players were members of the side which travelled to the Junior World Championships, suffering early losses to Australia and England before earning a win over Fiji.

Their involvement in the under-20 development program has proved an essential part of their growth in the game, as all eight contributed to Canada's performances on the world stage in New Zealand.

For Hirayama, who travelled to both the 2007 and 2011 Rugby World Cups, the Canadian Rugby Foundation's funding of the under-20 program is a vital element as it provides Canada's young rugby players the opportunity for exposure to the elite level of the sport at an earlier age.

"I believe the under-20 program is a very important stepping stone for any junior rugby player with aspirations of playing at the senior men's level," Hirayama said. "Being from Canada and not being exposed to top level rugby at all times, it's vital to our development as individual rugby players to have these experiences playing and competing against the top players in the world in age grade.

Funding for these junior programs not only benefits the players and teams that play on them, but also aids rugby in canada as a whole. The more players we can have exposed to top level rugby the better. I am very thankful for having the opportunity to play in these junior tournaments growing up because I know they have made my transition into men's rugby much smoother."

Canadian Rugby Foundation executive director Matthuw Ronald-Jones is proud his organization has been able to make a difference to young rugby players and shown tangible results in having so many members of the 2008 under-20 side selected to compete at the Rugby World Cup.