Meet Canada’s centre of attention
RUGBY SEVENS: Abbotsford star Douglas excited to perform in front of hometown fans this weekend
How good is Justin Douglas’s season going? Just ask his coach, who’s not afraid to say how highly he rates the 22-year-old international sevens back from Abbotsford.
“In my opinion, he’s the best centre in world sevens, head and shoulders,” Damian McGrath said Wednesday after the Canadian team wrapped up practice under the roof at B.C. Place Stadium. “If someone pushed me to another team and said, ‘there’s one player you can take with you,’ I’d have to think long and hard about not taking Justin.”
You then realize just how high such praise is when McGrath admits he was caught by surprise by Douglas’s talent.
“He’s got everything you want in a top-class rugby player. He’s quick. He’s balanced. He’s got good defence and he can score tries,” said McGrath. “Yes, I knew him, but when I first saw him in Florida (at a pre-season training camp), I thought ‘this guy wasn’t doing that last year.’ ”
Douglas made his debut for Canada as a teenager in the 2012-13 season.
The speedster has scored 63 tries in his five seasons on the World Rugby Sevens Series. The 19 he’s dotted down this season put him fourth in the series.
As it seems to be with every rugby player, Douglas is quick to credit his teammates for his success.
“Boys running good lines, putting me in space, making it easy,” he said.
Then there was a grinning acknowledgment about how excited he gets when the ball is in his hands: “If I see space, yeah, I’m going to take it.”
Douglas’s path started with school rugby in Abbotsford at Robert Bateman, ran through the B.C. Elite Youth Sevens program run by former Canada sevens star and coach Shane Thompson and finally landed on the national scene fresh out of high school nearly five years ago.
“I remember being 18, coming in fresh, Sean Duke, (me) being a winger behind him, he was a great teacher, he helped me out quite a bit,” he said.
Douglas was one of the kids in the team, learning the ropes from the veterans, among them current teammates Nathan Hirayama, Harry Jones and John Moonlight.
“They all helped me learn the game on the fly,” Douglas said.
Until this season, most coaches had seen him as a pure winger, the guy waiting on the outside for his chance to turn on the afterburners.
As a centre, Douglas’s job is to set the attacking line off of Canada’s lineouts and scrums. The rest of the time “it’s just rugby” he said, but the first-phase roll is a fun challenge.
Douglas is now a five-year veteran. At Wednesday’s practice, a group of young players from Saskatchewan — coached by former Canada sevens player Robin MacDowell — got to watch the Canadians go through their moves. Each set of eyes spent the whole hour fixed on the men in red, soaking in every step.
After practice, the Canadians piled into the stands to speak with the youngsters.
Not so long ago, that kid might have been Douglas.
“For me, it’s a little scary thinking how quick time goes by. It wasn’t that long ago I was the 18-year-old kid,” he said with a laugh.
This weekend, when the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series come to B.C. Place Stadium, Douglas is hoping to put on a show for those kids, for his friends and family. That’s the wrinkle to his story: He didn’t play during this event a year ago.
Yes, this will be his hometown debut. Yes, there will be a touch of nerves, he admits. But then the games will start, and finally, Douglas will put on a show.
“It means a lot,” he said. “They finally get to see what all the hard work has been about the last five years.”