MANITOBA MAN GRABS TOP UK SCHOLARSHIP

Posted 19 October 2001

A PROSPECTIVE Canadian U21 Rugby Player is competing in the UK University League this year after winning a scholarship at Harper Adams University College, Shropshire.

Ryan Georgison, 18, from Winnipeg, in Canada, has been awarded a rugby scholarship, with an accumulative value of more than £19,000, to study at Harper Adams, the UK's largest specialist institution of Higher Education for the land and food-based industries.

He will now undertake a BSc (Hons) Agricultural Engineering with Marketing and Management course, a four-year degree which includes a 12-month sandwich placement working in an appropriate industry.

Ryan will also play second row and represent Harper Adams with their First XV Rugby squad in the British Universities Sports Association's Northern Premier League.

Ryan has previously played second row for the Sturgeon Creek Club Team and for the Manitoba Provincial Team.

Ryan has already made a good start to his rugby career with Harper Adams, a side which draws its players from a student body of just 1,750 but has proven quite capable of defeating heavyweight opposition from university teams more than 10 times that size.

On October 17, Harper Adams faced off against the University of Manchester, an institution with approximately 20,000 students, in their first away league match of the season.

Ryan gave his opposition number in the line-out a torrid time and won the ball well with a performance that eventually earned him the Man of the Match award. The keenly fought contest produced a great game, which ended with Harper Adams triumphant, winning 17-12.

Ryan said: "It was definitely a forwards game and we really dominated them in that area but they had a pretty strong defence and we had difficulty getting past them.

"It was a strong game and the team pulled together. We seemed to get around the field well and produced a lot of quick balls."

Speaking after the match, Students' Union President Tom Warner was pleased to confirm that Ryan had made a spectacular start to the season.

He said: "The team is really beginning to gel well. Ryan has settled in and it is great to have him with us, not just because he is a good rugby player but because he is a great guy to be with and has fired us all up."

The Harper Adams First XV is now planning to go on tour to Canada in the Summer of 2002 and the University College would like to hear from anyone else who is interested in taking advantage of the educational and sporting opportunities on offer.

Ryan has this to say to anyone else who is interested: "Definitely look into it. It took me a while to figure out whether or not this was for me, but if you get the opportunity then take it."

If you would like to find out more, you can either talk to Ryan Georgison about his own experiences at Harper Adams by E-mailing him on 11123200@harper-adams.ac.uk or you can speak to the Scholarship's Coordinator Richard Jopling on +44 (0) 1952 815 290 or E-mail: rjopling@harper-adams.ac.uk