It's always interesting to have a chance to talk a sport you enjoy with someone who was once as good at the game as anyone in his country.
So when I came across an online post regarding Mark Wyatt being inducted into the British Columbia Sports Hall of Fame in 2017 as an individual athlete and 2018 with the Rugby World Cup team of 1991, I reached out to the HoF and they were good enough to help arrange contact with the rugby great for an interview.
I will admit I knew of Wyatt, although my deep appreciation of the sport of 15s rugby actually manifested itself fully after his playing days were over with the Canadian National team. That noted I can assure readers Wyatt has a resume which speaks to just how good he was.
"Wyatt is remembered as one of the best Canadian rugby players of his generation and of all time, and for his kicking skills which made him one of the most prolific scorers ever for Canada," details Wikipedia.
He also played for the British invitational team Barbarian F.C., played against the North of England for the World XV in 1989, and played in the Australian Bi-Centennial for the World XV in Sydney, 1988.
"Wyatt remained a regular and a top scorer in the Canada side, being promoted to captain in 1990," continues Wikipedia. "He achieved an historical feat at 25 May 1991, in a 24–19 win over Scotland XV, in Saint John, scoring all the eight penalties that gave Canada a memorable win. This world record was even stated at the 1993 edition of the Guinness Book of Records, and held for 10 years.
"Wyatt, the same year, had his second and final presence at the major international rugby union competition, the 1991 Rugby World Cupfinals, this time as the captain."
And finally of note he was inducted into the Canadian Rugby Hall of Fame 2019.
So chatting with Wyatt one blustery January day was frankly rather exciting as a rugby fan.
Wyatt, while growing up in Canada, never got into hockey.
"My day was a Brit. We landed in Canada when I was six," he explained, adding because of his linage "North American sport culture was not something he (his father) grew up with, or gravitated toward."
As a result Mark gravitated to soccer and then rugby, with hockey just not part of his youth.
"I can't remember the last time I put on a pair of skates, but it wasn't very pretty when I did," he joked.
So Wyatt played soccer and rugby in high school but as he headed to the University of Victoria he decided to focus on only one sport, which was rugby largely because the university coach for the sport responded to a call, while the soccer coach of the day did not.
That decision proved to be a fortuitous one for Wyatt, and dramatically quickly at that.
Before even starting at the university, at age 19, Wyatt said he got a surprise call. The National team was holding a camp and the fullback was not able to attend, and they wanted him to take the spot.
"I beat out the number two guy," he said, adding by his 20th birthday he was suddenly on the Canadian team "which was bizarre for me."
One day Wyatt said he was playing high school rugby, and within literally months, he was playing for Canada in front of 30,000 fans in Japan, after Canada's top fullback went down with an injury.
"It was so surreal. It was so bizarre," he reiterated. "Within seven months I went from high school to starting fullback for the national team."
Admittedly the depth of rugby players with national team skills was less in the late 1980s and 1990s, the decade Wyatt excelled, but it was still a dramatic introduction to the national program.
For the next decade Wyatt excelled, finally retiring as he realized "I had to get on with my life," noting at the time the national team was an amateur one which still required a huge commitment of time.
And he was feeling a decade of rugby too.
"You start picking up injuries," he said, adding the science behind recovery back then was not what it is today.
"Your body starts trying to tell you something," he said, adding after 10-years he decided to listen.
While noting how players address injuries better today, it is only part of an evolution of rugby since Wyatt's playing days which have seen the profile of the sport grow in Canada, although there is still a long way to go to be considered a major one.
The emergence of the pro Major League Rugby (MLR) league is certainly helping.
"I don't follow the MLR that closely," said Wyatt, but he added he realizes that if the league can carve out a following, and survive, it will help spur growth at the grassroots.
But, he did urge caution. Wyatt follows soccer and noted how Major League Soccer started out, growing rapidly, bringing in name players at the end of their careers, and finally failing. They have since been reborn and appear to be getting it right this time, but pro rugby must grow with some caution.
At present Canada has only one MLR team the Toronto Arrows, but could a second team happen?
"There's been a lot of talk about that," said Wyatt who lives in B.C. the likely landing spot for a franchise in Canada.
Wyatt noted he worked "with a group playing around with the idea (of a franchise)," adding "financially we couldn’t make it work."
But, he hopes that the MLR is a success because Wyatt said even when he has stepped back from the game, he has always found his way back to the sport that he loves.
"It's the rugby culture," said Wyatt adding while it's a battle on the field, there is a sense of camaraderie off the field that permeates the sport too.
"I like the prospect of going into physical combat," he said, adding the connections off the pitch have proven just as enticing.
