From national to provincial team duties. It’s a busy month for Valerie Wideski.
The Richmond rugby standout was in Ottawa last weekend where she led Canada’s U18 team to a sweep of the United States in the two-game Can-Am Series.
Played at the University of Ottawa, Wideski scored a pair of tries as Canada rolled to a 25-5 victory. The result came on the heels of a dominant 58-12 triumph in the series opener. The recent Steveston-London graduate was among eight different Canadian players to score tries.
Wideski has since turned her attention to the B.C. U18 15s women’s team that is currently in Ireland. The team is playing four matches over nine days and also taking in Canada’s pool match against New Zealand at the Women’s Rugby World Cup in Dublin. The B.C. U18 men’s team is also part of the trip.
The Tour is part of BC Rugby’s new approach to seek out challenging and valuable competitions to ensure optimum athlete development. In turn, this should help in the process of developing more B.C. players to lead national teams to success.
The B.C. women’s team will face a number of club sides including Launguedoc (France) and Leinster (Ireland) at a U18 girls tournament. The trip will conclude with a second match against Munster on Saturday.
Wideski plays club rugby for Bayside and concluded her high school career by helping McRoberts reach the tier II title game at the B.C. Championships.
Meanwhile, Richmond’s Kate Ferduk has been named to the B.C. U16 girls team that competing at this week’s Canadian Rugby Championships in Calgary.
