Graduates of the G.P. Vanier rugby program continue to garner accolades and awards.
Last month, Thyssen de Goede was named a B.C. Rugby News Lionheart MVP after his James Bay Athletic Association team defeated UBC 22-14 in a Nov. 8 Canadian Direct Insurance Premier League match.
The Lionheart MVP awards are given to a player based on their game performance, but selection also takes into consideration their playing form over the long term and their potential for future representative rugby.
De Goede, a stalwart in the JBAA back row, comes from rugby nobility with father Hans an icon of the national XVs program during some of Canada’s finer years between 1974 and 1987, when he garnered 24 caps.
Thyssen has been capped numerous times for the Canada 7s program and was on the Canada U20 team in 2007-08 when they were still playing in the Tier 1 competition, the JWC.
“His style of play is typified by a high level of physicality, a trademark of the Bays forwards game. At 26 he’s still in contention for national XVs selection,” BCRN noted in the announcement on their website.
De Goede started playing rugby in Grade 10 at age 15 with the Vanier Towhees. The 6′,3″ 225-pounder says his favourite rugby memories include, “Our U20 success in the junior rugby World Cup. Winning my first bowl with the National Mens 7s team in Hong Kong.”
Other male Vanier rugby grads in the news of late include Foster DeWitt and Braydon Williams, who were with the Canadian U18 men’s team that just returned from a three-game tour of Romania.
