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By The Daily Gleaner

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Jebb Sinclair of Fredericton has been named to the Canadian senior men's travelling team that will travel to Portugal, Ireland, Wales and Scotland from Nov. 1-23, a tour considered one of the most challenging ever undertaken by a Canadian team in a non-World Cup year.

The 22-year-old flanker/second row player who started his rugby career in high school at Fredericton High and quickly asserted himself as a member of the Fredericton Loyalists and the New Brunswick Black Spruce of the Rugby Canada Super League spent this past season in British Columbia playing for the Castaway Wanderers of Victoria and the Crimson Tide of Vancouver Island. The six-foot-four inch, 235 pounder played with the Loyalists right out of high school. He played for the Loyalists in 2007 but has been in British Columbia for the past year.

The Canadian senior team is in Lisbon Nov. 1 to play the Portugese; in Limerick Nov. 8 to face Ireland, in Cardiff Nov. 14 to play Wales and finishes their tour in Aberdeen, Scotland Nov. 23.

"This tour will be an important measure of how we are porgressing, and it will be good to see these players in some pressure situations to see how they do," said Canadian coach Kieran Crowley in a press release.

Crowley, in his first season as the Canadian national team's head coach is a former New Zealand All Blacks rugby player.

Chauncey O'Toole of Belleisle has been named to the non-travelling roster for the Canadian squad. O'Toole returned this summer to play with the Black Spruce but has returned to British Columbia to play and train. The 22-year-old, six-foot two inch, 210 pound number eight is a product of the Belleisle Rovers program.

Both O'Toole and Sinclair also played for the Canada East squad at a North America 4 tournament in Vancouver earlier this season.

Sinclair and O'Toole are the only two New Brunswickers selected to the squad. Two other rookies from Newfoundland will make their international debuts, including back row player Andrew Fagan and prop Frank Walsh.