Theo Sauder (born 2 April 1996) is a Canadian

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

player that plays fullback and

fly-half In the game of rugby union, there are 15 players on each team, comprising eight forwards (wearing jerseys numbered 1–8) and seven backs (numbered 9–15). In addition, there may be up to eight replacement players "on the bench", numbered 16� ...

. He currently plays for the

Toronto Arrows Toronto Arrows R.F.C. was a rugby union club based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, that played in Major League Rugby. The Arrows team was an independent off-shoot of the Ontario Blues provincial programme and was funded by a group of private invest ...

Major League Rugby Major League Rugby (MLR) is a professional rugby union competition in the United States. The league comprises 11 teams. While operating outside of the governance and oversight of the national governing body, the league is officially sanctioned ...

as well as the Canada national rugby sevens team.

Early life

Sauder was born in

Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...

, and attended St. George's School. After graduating from St. George's he attended

University of British Columbia The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a Public university, public research university with campuses near University of British Columbia Vancouver, Vancouver and University of British Columbia Okanagan, Kelowna, in British Columbia, Canada ...

for his university studies.

Rugby career

In 2015, Sauder played for Canada U20 at the

2015 World Rugby Under 20 Trophy The 2015 World Rugby U20 Trophy was the eighth annual international rugby union competition for Under 20 national teams, second-tier world championship. A total of 8 nations played in the tournament. The event was held in Portugal and was organi ...

. He played for the Canada U20s again in 2016 but lost to United States U20 19–18 in the qualifier for the

2016 World Rugby Under 20 Trophy The 2016 World Rugby U20 Trophy was the ninth annual international rugby union competition for Under 20 national teams, second-tier world championship. The event was held in Harare, Zimbabwe and was organized by rugby's governing body, World Rug ...

, therefore he did not get the play in the tournament that year. Sauder made his international debut for on 9 June 2018 against . He came off the bench as a substitute in the 55th minute. Sauder scored his first points for the national team in a 65–19 win over in the first match of the 2019 Rugby World Cup Qualifying Repechage Tournament. He scored 2 tries and a conversion. On 6 November 2018, Sauder signed with the

ahead of their 2019 debut season in

. On 27 September 2019, he was included in the Canadian squad for the

2019 Rugby World Cup The 2019 Rugby World Cup () was the ninth edition of the Rugby World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's rugby union teams. It was hosted in Japan from 20 September to 2 November in 12 venues all across the country. The opening matc ...

as an injury replacement to Ben LeSage.

Sevens

In June 2021, Sauder was named to Canada's 2020 Summer Olympics team.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sauder, Theo 1996 births Living people Rugby union players from Vancouver Toronto Arrows players St. George's School (Vancouver) alumni BC Bears players Rugby union fullbacks University of British Columbia alumni Canada international rugby union players Canadian rugby union players Rugby sevens players at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic rugby sevens players for Canada 2019 Rugby World Cup players