Former Team Canada rugby captain Jamie Cudmore was at Lashburn’s Murray McDonnell Rugby Park on Sunday providing high-end training sessions to a number of local rugby players and coaches. Taylor Weaver Meridian Source
The game of rugby is alive and thriving in Lloydminster and the surrounding area.
Last Sunday, athletes and coaches from Lloydminster, Meadow Lake, Cold Lake and the Lashburn Lucky’s club team had the unique opportunity to experience high-end instruction from one of the best rugby players to come out of Canada, Jamie Cudmore.
All the excitement took place at Lashburn’s Murray McDonnell Rugby Park with a two-hour coaching session in the afternoon and a two-hour player session in the early evening.
Cudmore has been making the rounds to smaller rugby communities throughout the last number of weeks to try and attract new athletes to the sport that gave him so much.
“I’ve been coaching with some of the local coaches and now we have a great training group here with boys and girls from the local rugby clubs,” he said.
“It’s an excellent day, it’s an amazing facility, and the weather is perfect. It doesn’t get much better than playing some rugby and learning some new skills on a Sunday.”
Aside from learning some new skills, Cudmore explained he hopes the kids had a lot of fun and continue to have a positive experience through rugby.
“It’s an amazing game and it’s a game that’s for life,” he said.
“Being involved in rugby has helped me immensely and it’ll help others in so many different ways. It’s a community, it’s family, whether you want to play club rugby at home or go on to play university, provincial, international or professional, it all stays the same because it’s the game of rugby,” he said.
“I hope everyone has a great time and keeps at it so we can continue to grow the game.”
One of the biggest things Cudmore focused on during Sunday’s sessions was on-field communication among players.
“Communication is part of the fundamentals of any team sport. You have to communicate with your partners and clear and concise communication is extremely important for anything,” he said.
“When you have 15 people running around a field in different states of disarray or physical excursion, if you’re not communicating, that’s a problem. Fifteen people not pulling in the same direction is not as effective as those who are.”
As of late, Cudmore played and coached professionally in Europe for the past 20 years before returning to Canada to continue coaching.
“I was successful on the playing side, but I coached quite a lot towards the end of my career,” he said. “Coming back to Canada in 2019 and continuing that coaching and growing the game from the grassroots up has been outstanding.”
For coach Jason Ross, Team Sask Rugby, having Cudmore on the field was eye-opening to many local athletes.
“Jamie played in four world cups with Team Canada, so it’s huge having Mr. Rugby here with us today,” said Ross.
“It’s good to learn skills from the guys who have been there. At the local level, we’ve all played rugby, but this is a new voice with a new opinion, and he’s someone everyone here looks up to having worn red for Canada.”
Todd Wilson, volunteer rugby coach at Lloydminster Comprehensive High School, echoed Ross’ excitement over Cudmore’s presence and noted rugby continues to grow in and around Lloyd.
“It started many years ago with the original Lashburn club. Murray McDonnell, whose name is on the field, built the team, they went to provincials and won five in seven years and just dominated,” said Wilson. “The players from those provincial teams are the ones who started the Reapers, they’re also coaching in Rivers West as well as the Lloyd Comp Barons.”
