Vancouver Highlanders

The Vancouver Highlanders are a semi-professional rugby union team based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.^[1]

Vancouver Highlanders

Full name	Vancouver Highlanders
Union	Rugby Canada
Founded	2023; 2 years ago (2023)
Location	Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Region	British Columbia
Ground(s)	Burnaby Lake Rugby Club
CEO	Curry Hitchborn
Director of Rugby	Randall Barton
Coach(es)	Tom Larisch
Captain(s)	Josh Thiel
Top scorer	Takoda McMullin (39)
Most tries	Melani Nanai (4)
League(s)	Rugby Players Challenge Summer Series
2024	n/a
Official website
vancouverhighlanders.com

History

Founded by Curry Hitchborn and Ralph McRae in 2023, with their first game coming in June 2024 a double header against the Barbados national side and a Canada Select 'XV'. Ralph McRae is the financial backing of the club.^[2] Players who sign on will be guided to play for local clubs during the regular British Columbia season, as the Highlanders will play in the traditional rugby off season not playing in a conventional rugby league instead playing on the Rugby Players’ Challenge Summer Series.^[3][4]

2024 season

Regular season^[5]

Date	Opponent	Home/Away	Location	Result	Ref.
28 June	Barbados	Home	Burnaby Lake Rugby Club	44–12	[6]
28 June	Canada Select 'XV'	Home	Burnaby Lake Rugby Club	44–33	[6]
20 July	Germany	Home	Burnaby Lake Rugby Club	30–26	[7]
3 August	Brazil XV	Home	Burnaby Lake Rugby Club	77–7	[8]
17 August	Canada XV	Home	Burnaby Lake Rugby Club	23–38

Current squad

Squad for 2024 Rugby Players’ Challenge Summer Series
Props Cole Kelly Griffin Phillipson Theo Espagnol* Conor O'Flaherty* Payton Teneycke Simeon John Ed Wallin Finlay Kennedy* Hookers Jacob Bossi Sam Mace Josh Olver Locks Donald Carson Thomas Davidson Kaden Duguid Caden Wilson Asfand Saeed Brian Ndirangu	Back-row Matt Klimchuk Joe Locke Ollie Nott Saba Shubitidze Jake Thiel Relmu Wilson-Valdes Callum Brown Liam Kinghorn Conall Henchy Scrum-halves Jacob Bourne Keegan Neary Reid Watkins Fly-halves James Biss* Mike Moloney* Josh Thiel (c)	Centres Giuseppe du Toit Sion Griffiths Talon McMullin Hayden Mulgrew Melani Nanai Outside Backs Noah Bain Lenny Bondudau D'Shawn Bowen Nico Leonard Alastair Marshall Nick Blain Takoda McMullin
Key Senior 15s internationally capped players are listed in bold. * denotes players qualified to play for Canada on dual nationality or residency grounds.

Club staff

Rugby Department^[9]

Role	Name
Director of Sports Operations	Randall Barton

First Team Coaching^[9]

Role	Name
Head Coach	Tom Larisch
Assistant Coach	Bill Chamberlain

Notable players

Internationals

• Simeon John
• Donald Carson
• Matt Klimchuk
• Ollie Nott
• Reid Watkins
• Josh Thiel
• Giuseppe du Toit
• Talon McMullin
• Takoda McMullin
• Saba Shubitidze
• Brian Ndirangu

See also

• Rugby union in Canada