HEAD COACH, CANADA WOMEN'S UNDER-20
Sandro Fiorino
Sandro Fiorino joined Rugby Canada in July 2011 as the Assistant Coach, National Women’s Teams and the Canadian Sport Centre Ontario High Performance Rugby Coach. Sandro brings considerable experience as a player and coach to Rugby Canada, having previously held the Head Coach role for the Ontario Storm and McMaster University Women’s teams. Sandro is a NCCP Level 3 qualified coach who has recent specialization in rugby sevens. Sandro was selected as an Assistant Coach for the National Women’s Sevens tours to Las Vegas and Hong Kong in 2011, where Canada was crowned champions for the first time at each tournament.
Sandro graduated from Bishop’s University with a Bachelor of Arts in Humanities. Prior to joining Rugby Canada, Sandro was a National Sales Manager for Dell computers. He has been a long time member of rugby clubs in Greater Toronto, including Markham RFC and Toronto Scottish, where he has been the Head Coach of the Men’s 1st Division team.
Sandro was raised in the GTA and currently resides in Toronto for the better part of the year but is located in Langford during centralization periods from January to the end of April. He will spend the majority of his time recruiting and evaluating athletes for the Women’s Programs.
MANAGER, WOMEN’S RUGBY Meaghan Howat
The Manager of Women’s Rugby has a primary role of providing infrastructure and programs for the development of all levels of Rugby for women in Canada. This development role is to ensure long-term succession planning of players, coaches, match officials, team managers and administrators. This person retains full responsibility for player and team management succession planning whilst the development of coaches and match officials will require co-operation with and significant input from, the Coach Development Manager and the Referee Development Manager. The role centres upon the further development and implementation of Women in Rugby Strategic Plan and the implementation of elements of the Long Term Rugby Development Plan relevant to Women in Rugby. The role requires a significant liaison with Provincial Unions.
In addition to the aforementioned roles the Manager of Women’s Rugby will also be required to support the National Women’s Head Coach with administrative duties associated with the senior national squad of players. This squad consists of National Senior Team members, Canada “A” Team members, National Sevens Team members and players involved in the Athlete Assistance Program (“Carded” players). This person acts as National Team Manager for all events, camps and tours and supports the role performed by volunteers who are managing Women’s Age Grade National teams.
Meaghan Howat grew up in Toronto, Ontario and began playing rugby in High School for the Lawrence Park Collegiate Institute in grade 11. She went on to be a star at the University of Guelph playing four years of rugby and two years of hockey for the Gryphons. Howat received MVP honours in 2005 & 2006 for Women’s Rugby and won the University’s Athlete of the Year in 2007. Howat first represented Canada for the National U-23 side in 2005 and again in 2006 before receiving her first International Cap for Canada’s Senior Women’s team in Minnesota in 2007. Howat played a year of rugby for the London Saracens in 2007-2008, before eventually tearing her ACL in the summer of 2008, which ended her career with Team Canada. After graduating with a Bachelor of Arts with honours in Bio Chemistry in 2007, Howat went on to receive a Masters in Business Administration and specialized in Corporate Finance and Marketing. After graduating from Notre Dame in Indiana, she worked in the Marketing department for the Toronto Rock for a year and a half before being hired by Rugby Canada in the fall of 2012. Howat was the winner of the 2012 Colette McAuley award, which recognized women’s rugby players who embody the sport and give back to it in the true spirit of the game. Howat is a welcomed addition to Rugby Canada’s Centre of Excellence in Langford, B.C., and is striving to grow Rugby Canada’s Women’s High Performance program and the game nationally and internationally.