Thunder have mapped out their plans for 2024 while looking ahead to another tour to Aotearoa in 2025.

You can register for the 2024 camps online by clicking here.

Thunder Rugby New Zealand Tour

Tour Reflections from coach Clay Panga
Thunder Tour Wrapup on BCRN
Thunder NZ Tour Program
View Itinerary
View Google Earth Video of Tour

The Thunder Indigenous Rugby program is getting ready to soar and has its sights set on NZ for an August 2023 tour. They will be taking 28 players, representing a U18 boys team and an U18 girls team. The teams will get to experience rugby where it is an integral part of the culture and our youth will get to learn more about the Maori culture. The trip is set for August 13th to August 28th and we encourage supporters to follow us on social media to get updates and support our fundraising initiatives, Facebook at /ThunderIndigenousRugby, Instagram at /thunder_rugby and Twitter at /ThunderRugbyCA

John Lyall, Kwakwaka’wakw, Director of Thunder Rugby

“Going to New Zealand with our Thunder rugby team is a dream come true.  Confidence in who we are and where we come from is a key component of Thunder Rugby, and Aotearoa embodies cultural pride and rugby ethos. Our youth accepted the challenge of our 2022 California tour and came back the better for it, on and off the field, and made some lifelong friends doing so! We will continue to use the philosophy of Numwayut, or we are all one to guide us!” Read the rest of this entry »

Noah Bain
Algonquin/Fijian

Noah, who has an engineering degree from UVic, has an impressive list of rugby accomplishments at the regional, provincial and national levels. He’s heading to NZ this summer to play Premier rugby and continue to develop his skills.

He hopes to be more involved with Thunder in the future and sees the value of programs focused on Indigenous youth, “Growing up, I have seen some many high potential Indigenous athletes in my inner circles who just lacked a pathway to pursue and Thunder Rugby can definitely help to mend this.”

Noah Bain is the 2023 Phil Mack Indigenous Player of the Year winner. Read the rest of this entry »