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Brandon Harrison, pictured above, recently competed at the Sanix World Rugby Youth Invitational Tournament in Fukuoka, Japan.

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Cochrane rugby player in on huge upse

Cochrane’s Brandon Harrison, and Shawnigan Lake School, served up a big helping of upset at the recent Sanix World Rugby Youth Invitational Tournament in Fukuoka, Japan.

Harrison, 15, and Shawnigan Lake of Vancouver Island defeated top-seeded Kelston Boys High School from New Zealand 17-15 in a preliminary-round match.

It goes down as the biggest win in Harrison’s young rugby career.

“After the game the energy and excitement was out of this world. All the boys came in together hugging and yelling,” Harrison recalled.

“I remember just thinking to myself, ‘wow we just beat the top ranked team from New Zealand.’ There was a level of surprise after winning the game. We went into the game just doing what we loved to do and gave it our all, which lead to a huge victory... I think I am speaking for all the boys, when I say it will never be forgotten.”

The Kelston boys’ team went on to win the Sanix tournament while Shawnigan Lake posted the best showing ever by a Canadian school with four wins in six matches, good for 10th at the tournament some call the “mini World Cup.”

“I was expecting our team to be tested by a lot of very skilled rugby teams from around the world,” Harrison said. “That said, I also fully expected our team to finish in the top 10.”