Tyson Beukeboom on joining Ealing: ‘If I don't go play pro somewhere, I'm going to be left behind'
Canada second-row Tyson Beukeboom has revealed how her move to Ealing Trailfinders and Premiership Women’s Rugby (PWR) was driven by a desire not to be left behind.
Beukeboom will celebrate her 10th anniversary as an international player later this month, but she is still keen to learn and improve, and intends to extend her playing career to Rugby World Cup 2025 and beyond.
Following Canada’s run to the fourth place at RWC 2021, her third experience of the showpiece tournament, the 32-year-old felt the best way to do that was to move abroad.
Her national team coach, Kévin Rouet has forged close relationships with counterparts at club sides in England and France and is therefore able to act as a de-facto agent for his players.
And as soon as she sat down with Trailfinders Women’s Director of Women’s Rugby, Giselle Mather, Beukeboom was committed to the Trailfinders project.
“I’m really, really excited,” she said. “Ealing is brand new, and I’m really excited to see what the team does this season.
“I think we’ve got a solid group and Giselle seems like an awesome coach. I’m just really, really excited to get over there and get building with the team and see what we can do and where we can go. I’m also excited to be part of the Premiership.
“Obviously, not having a domestic league in Canada, I just felt after the last World Cup, the way that women’s rugby is going, if I don’t go play pro somewhere, I’m going to be left behind and I don’t want that to happen. I’m not ready to be done.”
Beukeboom is currently part of the Canada squad preparing for the final two rounds of the World Rugby Pacific Four Series 2023 in Ottawa and has no shortage of team-mates to turn to when seeking out advice on her move to London.
The second-row says she expects a tough, physical challenge in PWR and has “only heard good things” from those she has consulted about her new coach.
“She seems to know everyone, and everyone seems to know her,” Beukeboom says of Mather and that is something that excites a player for whom squad morale is important.
“One of her big things is team culture and that’s one of my biggest values,” Beukeboom added. “I want to be a part of a team that works well together and works hard together and works for each other, which is what we do for the Canadian national team.
“So, in my meeting with her, that was one of the points that she made. And as soon as she said that I was pretty much sold right away. That’s kind of my core value in a team.”
Beukeboom’s impending switch to Ealing was confirmed last month and she has been impressed with the squad Mather and her staff are in the process of building for their maiden PWR season.
The headline arrival, so far, has been England winger Abby Dow, someone Beukeboom knows having watched her streak away to score a scintillating try in England’s RWC 2021 semi-final win against Canada last year.
“She did get World Rugby Try of the Year against us, so that’s a bit of a bitter pill to swallow,” Beukeboom, who also crossed the whitewash in the 26-19 defeat, joked.
“But no, I’m excited to play with such a high-ranking player, it’s going to be great. I mean, she’s a winger and I’m a lock – hopefully there’s something I can learn from her!
“We might not see a lot of each other on the field, but I hope to make some new friends and make some new connections and learn some things from other teams, other nations, and just build a great programme.”
Canada’s run to the RWC 2021 semi-finals, in which they were the last remaining amateur team, highlighted the difficulties facing the North American nation.
The team needs to compete with, and beat, the world’s best in order to build a fanbase and revenue streams that could one day support a professional domestic league. But without that domestic structure, that task is increasingly difficult.
“It’s hard because obviously we’re one of the nations that don’t have a professional league and that makes keeping that momentum (from RWC 2021) hard,” Beukeboom said.
“But we do a good job of getting our foot into other professional leagues as a team so we can kind of maintain the high level of competition.
“Everyone’s getting really strong competition, whether that’s domestically or overseas. But obviously, without everyone being in Canada, it’s harder to get together more often.
“So, that’s something that we’re looking forward to, is having contracts and being a professional side ourselves as a country and then also having a domestical league so we can get together a lot more often.”
Beukeboom is hopeful those contracts could arrive “sooner rather than later” but for now she is just focused on helping Canada to maintain their standing in the international game by qualifying for WXV 1.
Having beaten the USA in April they are well placed to do just that as TD Place Stadium prepares to host the final two rounds of the 2023 Pacific Four Series.
But Beukeboom will not be happy with Canada – who play the Black Ferns on Saturday and Australia six days later – merely securing their place in WXV 1 this October and November. She wants to head to New Zealand as Pacific Four Series champions.
“We don’t want to settle and be complacent with just being in the top three,” Beukeboom said. “We want to be the top team and that’s our goal here, is to come out of the PAC4 tournament on the top.
“So, we’re just going to keep pushing and that’s our goal as a team. We want to be the best.”
Comments on RugbyPass
Yes, Fiji can win the World Cup! With that belief plus their christian faith🙏 and hard work it is achievable. Great article. Ian Duncan Fiji resident 1981-84
2 Go to commentsInteresting comments about Touch. England’s hosting the Touch World Cup this year and the numbers have exploded since their last World Cup in 2019, something like 70% more teams and 40 nations taking part. And England Touch have made a big thing about how many universities are in their BUCS University Touch Championship as well as Sport England membership. Can only see this growing even more domestically as more people become aware of it
10 Go to comments“Cortez Ratima is light years ahead of anyone on current form, while TJ Perenara has also skyrocketed into contention following the unfortunate injury to the talented Cam Roigard.” At last some sanity. Hitherto so many pundits have been wittering on about Finlay Christie to the point one wondered if they were observing a FC in a parallel universe where the FC they saw wasnt just the mediocre Shayne Philpott project of Fosters hapless AB reign in the real world. Ratima, Perenara and Fakatava are the ONLY logical 9s for Razor now Roigard is crocked.
2 Go to commentsThis game was just as painful as the Hurricanes game. It was real fork-in-the-eye stuff.
2 Go to commentsNow if they could just fire the Crusaders ground PA guy who likes to play his dance music and just loves the sound of his own voice the entire game, even when play is going on. And I thought their brass band thing of a few years ago was bad.
5 Go to commentsUnfortunately when you lose by far the two form players this season in Roigard and Aumua, you're left replacing two game changing Tanks with a couple of pea-shooters. Which is also about the speed of TJs pass.
2 Go to commentsBit rich coming from the guy with zero loyalty to anyone or any team, including happily taking a players place in a league world cup squad because well, SBW wanted to play in it and thus an already named player got told he was no longer going. And airing stuff like this, which may or may not be true, doesn't exactly say you're a stand up guy either SBW. Just looking to keep his name in lights as usual.
38 Go to commentsTamati Tua. …the Taniwha NPC midfielder. Ollie Sapsford, Hawkes Bay NPC midfielder…doing well
2 Go to commentsFiji deserve to be in the rugby championship, fans love seeing the Fijian national team play, the Fijian Drua is a wonderful idea but the players can still be stolen to play for NZ and AUS…
2 Go to commentsThe first concern for this afternoon are wheather forecast…
1 Go to commentsWhy cant I watch Rugby games please?
1 Go to commentsBeautiful shot from Finau, end of story. Gutted for Shaun Stevenson though.
4 Go to commentsThe Chiefs definitely didn’t win ugly. They had the superior scrum, a dominant lineout, and their defence was excellent once the Waratahs scored their two tries (thanks to some lucky refereeing calls mind you). They put pressure on the Waratahs lineout throughout the game, and the mind boggles as to why the referee did not award a yellow card or a penalty try against the Waratahs for repeated scrum infringements on their own try line before Narawa’s first try. And the Chiefs were slick with their passing and running angles on attack. It was a dominant performance all round, even with many questionable refereeing decisions.
1 Go to commentsWasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
4 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
4 Go to commentsBig difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
5 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
34 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to comments