Just Call Me DJ

Canadian fans got a glimpse of the future on Saturday. A number of young players excelled in a dominant win over Brazil in the Americas Rugby Championship. One of those was loosehead prop Djustice Sears-Duru, one of a new generation of stars with genuine international size and frightening athleticism. In person he is polite and softly-spoken in a manner that belies his immensely destructive on-field abilities. Somehow the name is fitting.

“The D is silent, he says with a grin, “but everyone just calls me DJ.”

His rugby story begins as an 11-year-old with the Oakville Crusaders. It’s a club steeped in tradition, and one long recognized as one of Ontario’s top rugby nurseries. That he chose rugby instead of football, a considerably more popular sport in North America, is perhaps down to a bit of luck. Born in Edmonton, Alberta, to a Nigeran father and English mother, both talented soccer players, his mother soon found that Djustice just wasn’t that into her sport.

“He didn’t really enjoy soccer, laughs Rosie Sears, “he liked football. He was also into tae kwon do and karate and liked contact sports. He was a good football player but they separate kids based on their size, and because he was a big kid for his age they wanted him to play with Grade 9s when he was in Grade 6. I didn’t think that was appropriate, so I found the Crusaders. He took to the sport straight away. It took me longer to get used to it than it did him.”

Success in rugby came quickly for Sears-Duru. At 12 he was selected to the Ontario u14 team, and at 13 he went on his first international tour with the Crusaders, where he would compete against current England winger Anthony Watson. At the same time he came under the tutelage of Tyler Leggatt, the director of Upright Rugby, an age-grade academy program that is starting to churn out age-grade internationals with regularity.

Leggatt recommended his star pupil when the Ontario u16 side called for injury reinforcements, and the 15-year-old prop turned heads at the National Festival, leading to immediate selection for Canada u17 despite being two years under-age. The national identification camps were held at the prestigious Shawnigan Lake School on Vancouver Island, a name that needs no introduction to Canadian rugby fans, and Djustice soon brought to his mother’s attention his interest in attending the school full-time. The decision was made to make the move west for grade 11, one that Rosie insists was not for rugby reasons.

“We knew he would be ok on the rugby side of things whether he stayed here with Tyler or moved there. I looked at the academic opportunities and was impressed with their overall holistic approach. After discussing with his mentors we felt it was an opportunity he had to take.”

One of those mentors, interestingly, was Michael ‘Pinball’ Clemons of Toronto Argonauts fame. A family friend whose children attended the same school, Clemons allowed the youngster to spend time interning with the Argonauts and give him an early behind-the-scenes look at the world of professional sport.

“Mike is one of the most kind and genuine persons you could ever hope to meet, said Sears. “Djustice used to wear his number 31 when he played football. Mike always stressed that you ‘win with humility, and lose with grace.’ If Djustice took anything athletically from him it must have been through osmosis.”

At Shawnigan, DJ left football behind for good but played basketball and expressed his musical talents on the saxophone. Rugby, though, was never far from his thoughts. On the field he had new mentors. Gary Dukelow, a familiar name from the national junior program, along with Tim Murdy and Jeff Williams are among the finest coaches in the country and all would impart their wisdom to prepare him for his second experience with the national u17s, a tour to England to play in the Wellington International Festival.

There he would excel and compete against top competition. It also brought him another opportunity – an offer to join the academy program at Leicester Tigers, one of England’s top professional clubs. It was there that Sears-Duru decided he could make a career out of the sport he loved.

“We played England’s ‘A’ team at the Wellington tournament and one of the Leicester coaches saw me there and invited me out for a trial in the summer. I went out for two months and made the squad, but decided to finish my last year at Shawnigan first before taking them up on the offer.

“After high school I spent a full year in the academy. It was hard work. We had specialist coaches and though we usually trained separately from the main squad, I got to train with the seniors on a few occasions. It was a great experience.”

Next stop was Chile and the Junior World Trophy tournament with the Canadian u20 side under Mike Shelley, who had been in England a couple years earlier to watch him with the u17s. Again DJ was selected a year early, but still first choice in the side that finished second after losing to Italy in the final.

Then came a surprise call from Kieran Crowley and a trip to Europe with the National Senior Men’s Team. He made his test debut against Portugal in Lisbon on November 23, 2013 at age 19, fittingly coming on as a replacement for captain Hubert Buydens, the man who replaced him in Saturday’s match.

“I was so excited, and nervous. Really nervous. I just wanted to go out and do my best and improve myself as a player. I remember standing on the sideline in Portugal and they called my name to go on the field. It was a lot of fun and it went by so quickly.”

Canada has handed first caps to 28 props since the 1995 World Cup, when the ‘modern era’ of rugby began as it became fully professional. The average age of those new props was a shade under 26 years old. Andrew Tiedemann was the youngest when he debuted at nearly 21 in 2009. Sears-Duru was younger by 495 days. In fact only two players at any position had represented Canada at a younger age since ’95 – midfielder David Spicer was 17 days younger, while Taylor Paris is the all-time record-holder having only turned 18 a month before his debut in 2010.

A few months with Castaway Wanderers in Victoria followed, and then in the spring DJ was off to Hong Kong for another crack at the Junior World Trophy, alongside his old Oakville mates Sawyer Herron and Max van Dijk among others. It was a frustrating experience as Canada struggled, narrowly beating the host country to avoid finishing in the basement. Still, it was a positive experience for the young man.

“It was nice to come back and play with guys my own age, players who I had grown up with. I learned a lot on the senior tour and just wanted to get out and prove myself with my peers.”

Following the tournament he and two other players – no8 Matt Mullins and centre Ben LeSage – headed to New Zealand to join up with different clubs in North Otago. Sears-Duru ended up at Valley, and soon after joined the district side, with whom he toured Fiji and Tonga – along with Mullins – before breaking his fibula in September playing against King Country. With half an eye on the World Cup, just a year away, the injury appeared a major setback but one he took in stride. Despite the injury he has only positive things to say about his time in the South Pacific.

“It was great until I broke my leg! It was so intense. They take their rugby seriously down there. I had a great two months at the club, they were so welcoming. I was hoping to get more time with North Otago but these things happen in this sport.

“After the injury I was hopeful that I would be able to come back in time [to make the World Cup]. I returned home and thankfully the recovery went well enough. My rehab program was great. After that I went out to BC and worked hard with the team there to get ready for the summer season.”

A first surgery and months in a cast was followed by a second surgery in January. He worked with Sheddon Physiotherapy and the Athlete Training Centre to facilitate the healing process. Unable to run until two weeks before heading west, it was a race against time to get fit enough to play in the Canadian Rugby Championship (CRC), a target he would have to make to have a legitimate shot at the World Cup. One who can attest to the hard work he put in to make it is the Head Strength & Conditioning Coach of Rugby Canada, Andy Evans, who oversaw his training at the Centre of Excellence (CoE) in Langford.

“DJ joined me in training at the CoE in April coming off his broken leg and weighed around 130kg (285lbs). He was committed to training – without any compensation – as part of the senior training group and made huge gains from April until the CRC and pre-World Cup camp. By the time June came around he had dropped to 121kg (265lbs) and was firing to take a spot on the Senior Men’s Team.

“With only eight domestic forwards to work with, we had to replicate the stress encountered in the scrum during our weights sessions. Once a week we would do heavy pause squats. The player holds the weight with a 120 degree bend at the knee – the same angle you find in a prop in the scrum – for a few seconds and explodes out the bottom. By the end of our training phase DJ had worked up to 3 sets of 4 reps with 300kg (660lbs) and 6 second pauses with relative ease.

@DjSD1 with his 4x6s 300kg pause squats. #partials #120degrees pic.twitter.com/Z38PRvGJAZ

— Andrew Evans (@AndyEvans_SS) June 16, 2015

“On the heavy days I like to get the players to compete to see who can handle the most. Hubert pushes the pace pretty good and gets DJ going. Hubert came in to the CoE in January so he had a three month head start. DJ doesn’t have the same training history that Hubert has but strength exercises come very easily to him.”

The recovery went well enough to earn a spot on the Ontario Blues roster in the CRC tournament, albeit as a second half replacement for starter Tom Dolezel in each game. Both players were selected for the training camp at the familiar site of Shawnigan Lake to prepare for the Pacific Nations Cup, but ironically it was injury that left the door wide open for Sears-Duru to make his mark in the PNC and earn selection to the World Cup in England. Dolezel broke his arm in training, an injury that he is still recovering from.

“It was really unfortunate for Tom, we were roommates at training camp in Shawnigan and a couple others times. He’s a great guy to talk to and both he and Hubert have both been so helpful to learn from.”

A second test cap came as a reserve against Japan in San Jose, and a third against Tonga in Vancouver before DJ was handed his first test start against Samoa in front of his friends and family in Toronto. Two more caps against the Eagles and such was the impression he made that nobody was surprised to see his name on the World Cup roster named publicly on August 25. Nobody, that is, except DJ.

“I was told on the Sunday after the game in Ottawa. I was so surprised to make it. Even though I was in the team for the PNC I still couldn’t believe it. It was an amazing feeling, really a dream come true. I called my mom straight away. I remember saying ‘Mom, guess what?’”

Rosie Sears remembers the phone call well.

“I don’t think I’ll ever forget that. He was so shocked. I was so proud of the adversity that he had overcome. As a parent you just hope your kids find something that they love, and that they are willing to chase their dreams. Djustice has made many sacrificies with friends, family, and school. For him to realise his dream to represent his country at such a young age was an incredible achievement.”

It’s fair to say the World Cup didn’t quite go as planned for Canada, but a call came in after the tournament to stop in at Leicester for a month to see if he could potentially fill a gap for injured Italian international Michele Rizzo. In the end the Tigers opted for Rizzo’s World Cup teammate Matías Agüero, a 40-cap veteran and a like-for-like replacement, so it was back home to Canada to prepare for the Americas Rugby Championship. Another minor setback perhaps, but professional rugby is still very much on the cards for Sears-Duru.

“I’m definitely hoping to play professionally overseas. I loved the time I spent out there and I’d like to do more of that. Hopefully I’ll get in a couple good games for Canada and somebody will be impressed and get in contact.”

Saturday’s performance left most Canadian fans wondering why it’s taking so long. With his unique combination of size, strength, and impressive speed, along with a British passport courtesy of his parentage, it’s surely just a matter time before the right offer comes along. Until then his country is more than happy to accommodate their star in the making. Next stop Argentina, then on to Chile.

For this one, the future is now.

 

follow Djustice Sears-Duru on Twitter at: @DjSD1