Beukeboom Signs With Plymouth Albion

Canada’s newest overseas professional is none other than Ontario Blues and Canada lock-forward Brett Beukeboom. 

The talented second-row has signed with Plymouth Albion of the R.F.U. Championship, and will join fellow Canadian international forwards Sean-Michael Stephen and Aaron Carpenter at the club, as soon as his visa requirements are finalised for 2012/13 season.

Hailing from a family well known for its athletic achievements, Beukeboom was part of a talented 2009 Canada U20 program that produced the likes of Conor Trainor, Jamie Mackenzie, Kyle Armstrong, Connor Braid, Seb Pearson and fellow RFU Championship star Mark Kohler, of the Bedford Blues.

While at the University of Victoria, Brett made his first Canadian Rugby Championship (C.R.C.) appearance for the Ontario Blues in October of 2009 against a United States Selects squad; a match the Blues won 27 – 24. Thereafter, he has been a regular starter in the second-row and was a finalist for C.R.C. “Player of the Year” honors in 2011. Beukeboom was instrumental in Blues’ recent, and highly successful, tour of South America and is one of three young Ontario players to have signed recent professional contracts; the others being Taylor Paris (Glasgow Warriors) and Conor McCann (ASM Clermont-Auvergne).

With such a history of accomplishment in an Ontario Blues jersey, we thought it fitting to reach out to long-time Ontario manager Mark Winokur, for comment on Brett’s new opportunity.

“Brett has been a tremendous player for the Blues and got his first cap for Canada this June, as well. It is part of the nature of the C.R.C. that we continue to graduate players to the next levels of competition, as we have done with Tay Paris and Conor McCann recently, as well. It is a point of pride for the Ontario Blues program, when opportunities such as these arise for our players, and it is a perfect example of how the C.R.C. puts players on the national and professional pathway.”

Beukeboom joins a Plymouth Albion club known for employing talented and hard-nosed Canadian forwards.  For the past few seasons, the Albion forward pack has featured three Canadian internationals; however, with the departure of lock Tyler Hotson to Championship rivals London Scottish, Plymouth have once again looked to Canada to strengthen their scrum and line-out options.

Despite strong leadership from their Captain and Albion “Player of the Year” Sean-Michael Stephen, as well as their leading try scorer and Canada Captain Aaron Carpenter, Albion have failed to make the Championship’s promotional playoffs in the last few seasons. However, with young talents like Brett Beukeboom as part of their rebuilding program, their future looks very bright indeed.

Follow Brett Beukeboom on Twitter (@BrettBeukeboom)

-----------------------------------

Jeff Hull is a freelance contributor to Rugby Canada. His Rugby Canada Pro Report can be read regularly on this website, as well as on Facebook, Twitter and in the Blogosphere.

To contact the author, write to: jhull@rugbycanada.ca