Predators sign Watson to 3-year, $3.3 million deal
A team of Welsh high school rugby players are getting a taste of Peterborough hospitality.
The Thomas A. Stewart Griffins boys rugby team are hosting 27 boys aged 15 and 16 and three coaches from Ysgol Gyfun Cwm Rhymni, a Welsh-medium school situated in the village of Flour-deLys in the Rhymney Valley and the town of Caerphilly.
The players are billeting at the homes of TASSS players and on Thursday afternoon played an exhibition match at Nicholls Oval. The group later attended the Peterborough Century 21 Lakers game at the Memorial Centre. On Wednesday they went tree-top trekking in the Ganaraska Forest and watched a Pagans U18 match.
“It’s my first time to Canada and I’m enjoying it very much. It’s a very different culture than what we experience in Wales,” said player Evan Thomas.
“The weather is different. It’s been much more sunny in Canada. The terminology of words is hard to grasp sometimes, what people are talking about, but the people are very nice here.”
“It’s very different,” said teammate Leon Thomas, no relation. “It’s very hot. Not as many mountains here. The people are very nice and the people who billeted us welcomed us.”
The school has been touring Canada every other year since 2003 but this is their first visit to Peterborough.
“It won’t be out last time here,” said Welsh head coach Hugh Jones. “They’re well organized and looking after us very well.”
They have also hosted Canadian teams.
“This is a life experience, cultural experience for our boys,” Thomas A. Stewart's Hayden Moher, left, and teammate Marc Nicholson gang up on Cwm Rhymni (Wales) Bleddyn Parry during first half rugby action on Thursday at Nicholls Oval. See more photographs from the exhibition game in the online gallery at www.thepeterboroughexaminer.com. Jones said. “Our area was decimated in the ‘80s by all the coal mine closures inflicted on us by the Thatcher government. It’s an area of fairly high unemployment. A lot of our boys would never get the experience to come to Canada again if they didn’t come with our school.”
The Griffins travelled to Wales as part of a trip to the United Kingdom last year but this is the first time the two schools have met. The coaches from the two teams were introduced to each other while TASSS was in Wales which lad to their meeting in Peterborough.
“You learn how to host by touring,” said Griffins head coach Vik Kulla. “It was a great experience for us in Wales. When I toured with Adam Scott in Scotland and Ireland people always asked, ‘Are you going to Wales. You’ll love it there because they’re rugby crazy and the people are outstanding.’
“It improves our game,” Kulla said. “Some of these guys will remain friends for years.”
Cwm Rhymni started the tour in Toronto July 18 and also visited Ottawa, where they went white water rafting, and Montreal before coming to Peterborough on Tuesday. They’ll visit Brantford and Toronto again before heading home.
Evan Thomas said he’s struck by the similarities between Canadian and Welsh people.
“Everyone in Canada is very nice, very warm. They are very much like us, very similar. Even though they are on the other side of the world you don’t notice that sometimes.”
Leon Thomas said he was curious to see the calibre of rugby in Canada.
“This game has been quite even,” he said, “but the other two we won quite comfortably (In Ottawa and Montreal).”
“They’re very physical and very big compared to us,” said Evan Thomas. “Their ball skills aren’t as (strong) but I think in coming years as the sport develops and picks up speed it will be very good in Canada.”
“Since we’ve been coming in 2003,” Jones said, “the rugby is getting gradually better. The standards are definitely going up.” NASHVILLE — The Nashville Predators have signed former Peterborough Petes centre Austin Watson to a three-year $3.3 million deal, keeping him under contract through 2019-20.