It’s a Parfrey family affair in Japan
Dad and three sons will be on hand to watch the youngest, Patrick, start for Canada in World Cup opener; Hearn back for his third World Cup appearance
It will be a special moment for Patrick Parfrey Thursday when Canada takes to the pitch to open their 2019 World Cup of Rugby tournament against Italy.
Not just because Parfrey is a starting fullback. Rather, because all the Parfrey men will be among the 21,000-plus in Japan’s Fukuoka Stadium for the Pool B matchup.
Pat Parfrey and his other three boys — Brendan, Kevin and Owen — will be there to watch the youngest Parfrey, Patrick, play his first World Cup game.
“It will be a special family moment, I believe so,” said Patrick. “It will be a cool moment. I didn’t know when I was named to the squad I’d be expected to start the opening match.”
Parfrey, of course, isn’t the only Newfoundlander on the Canadian team. The World Cup is becoming old hat to Ciaran Hearn of Conception Bay South. The Japan World Cup is his third, after donning the maple leaf in the 2011 event in New Zealand and the 2015 championship in England.
Hearn, at 33, is six years older than Parfrey.
Parfrey had a taste of the 2015 World Cup as an alternate. After Connor Braid suffered a broken jaw and concussion in England, the call was put out to Parfrey back in St. John’s to get to England ASAP.
He was playing a Goodyear Cup game for Swilers, against the Dogs, when Brian Hedderson, an employee at the adjacent Newfoundland and Labrador Sports Centre, got the call to have Parfrey immediately removed from the game ongoing at the Swilers Rugby Club pitch.
“I remember it was raining pretty good, and Brian came out in the middle of the field during the game,” Parfrey recalled Wednesday morning from Japan. “He said, ‘Patrick Parfrey’s got to get off the field now.’ One of my brothers (Owen), said, ‘Like hell.’
“But then it was explained I needed to stop playing to avoid injury, and get to England in the next day or two.
“I remember both teams clapping and cheering when I walked off the field,” he said.
Parfrey never did get a chance to play in that World Cup. So naturally, these are exciting times leading up to Thursday’s tilt between 22nd-ranked Canada and Italy, the 14th-ranked team.
“I was delighted to officially make the team,” he said, “and to learn I’m starting, that’s pretty special.”
While Hearn is the veteran on the Canadian squad — he made his debut with the Canadian senior side in 2008 and has appeared in 69 international matches, more than anyone else on the 23-man World Cup roster — Parfrey also brings with him plenty of experience, having earned his first cap in 2013, with 29 overall.
While Hearn is a product of the Baymen RFC, Parfrey is a Swilers man who cut his pro teeth this year with the Toronto Arrows of Major League Rugby (MLR), the young North American pro league.
“It’s been exciting to be part of the entire buildup to the World Cup,” he said, “and to be here and experience the culture of Japan before it starts.”
Pat Parfrey, of course, is the godfather of rugby in Newfoundland, and the only person in Canada to coach the Canadian senior men’s national team, serve as president of Rugby Canada and serve as Canada’s representative on the World Rugby Board, his current position.
He coached Canada at the 1999 World Cup.
“It seems like I’ve been around the rugby field forever,” young Parfrey said. “I think to play for your country in the third-largest sporting event in the world (behind the Olympics and World Cup of Soccer) is the pinnacle, and I’m just proud to follow in his (Pat Parfrey’s) footsteps.
“This is obviously a real proud family moment. I remember we went to some of Canada’s (preliminary) games in ’99. I don’t remember being at the World Cup. I was pretty young (eight).”
Parfrey’s commitment to rugby and education (he’s working towards a PHD) led him to step away from hockey years ago. A very fine player on the ice, Parfrey played Canada Games and was drafted by the St. John’s Fog Devils in the fifth round of the 2007 Quebec Major Junior Hockey League draft.
When the Fog Devils relocated to Montreal, he attended the Juniors’ camp, but was cut. Montreal management tried to convince him to go to the Maritime junior league, but he refused.
“I talked it over with my father and decided I’d go to university,” said Parfrey, who did just that, and enjoyed an all-star career in the St. John’s junior ‘B’ circuit. “Maybe I was a little premature. Maybe I could have went further, but I have no regrets.
“I’m very happy I opted to focus on school and rugby.”
And education will be the priority again after this World Cup as he intends to work towards his PHD for the next six or eight months.
After that, don’t rule out more appearances for the Arrows and certainly the Atlantic Rock CRC squad. And maybe even the national squad again.
But first thing’s first. Game time Thursday against the Italians is 5 a.m. NL time, on TSN.