HIGH ACHIEVERS: Julianne Zussman, Steve Gray heading into Rugby Canada Hall of Fame

By Martin Cleary

Ottawa legend Al Charron is about to have some hometown company in the Rugby Canada Hall of Fame.

On Feb. 24, Julianne Zussman, who was introduced to rugby at Ashbury College and played a dozen seasons on the Canadian women’s national team, and Steve Gray, who stepped onto the rugby field for the first time at Canterbury High School and made three Rugby World Cup appearances, have been named to the induction Class of 2023.

Charron, who had a stellar career for Canada and European professional teams from 1989 to 2003, was inducted into the Rugby Canada Hall of Fame in 2016 and was the first and only inductee from Ottawa until last month’s announcement about the Class of 2023.

The distinguished 2023 group also includes players Andrea Burk, Jen Kish, Mark Cardinal and Mike James, builders Keith Wilkinson and Rick Bourne and match official Sherry Trumbull. The nine rugby personalities will be honoured during the HSBC Vancouver Sevens tournament on the last weekend of February.

Ever since Zussman, 36, followed her brother into the game as a Grade 9 student, she has fully embraced rugby as a player, a coach and now a referee.

Entering the Rugby Canada Hall of Fame for a second time will be another special moment in her career. Zussman was welcomed into the hall for the first time in 2020 as a member of the 2014 Canadian women’s squad, which won the silver medal at the Women’s Rugby World Cup 15s championship.

“I’m honoured and humbled,” Zussman said in a recent phone interview with High Achievers. “It’s a testament to my incredible journey and support.

“This is definitely something that never has crossed my mind. We worked as a team. The 2014 team was inducted two years later and that was a special moment to share with my teammates.”

Her long and winding road to the hall of fame began when her brother and Ashbury head coach Jen Boyd encouraged her to give rugby a try.

“I took a chance to do a sport that was brand new to me,” added Zussman. “It wasn’t a problem really. I fell in love with it right away – the tactics, and it combined all the sports that I loved. It was the ultimate team sport.”

Zussman helped Ashbury win the OFSAA girls’ AAA/AAAA rugby gold medal in 2002 and played club rugby with the Ottawa Irish Rugby Club, Town of Mount Royal RFC, Velox RFC and the Castaway Wanderers RFC as well as the Quebec provincial team.

Recognized for her speed, enthusiastic offensive and defensive play and the ability to be in the right place at the right time, the McGill University international development studies grad joined the Canadian women’s team in 2007. During her 12 years with the national squad, Zussman played in both the 15s and 7s programs.

She earned her first cap (for playing in an official international match) against Scotland in 2007. By the time she retired as a player in 2018, she had collected 44 caps and scored 18 tries in that span.

Zussman also experienced playing in the 2010, 2014 and 2017 World Cup competitions. Besides helping Canada win a silver medal at the 2014 World Cup, after a 21-9 loss to England, Zussman was named to the World Rugby Dream Team at the 2017 World Cup and was selected the winner of Rugby Canada’s Gillian Florence Award by her peers for best representing the qualities of Canadian rugby.

“We performed beyond anyone’s expectations by coming together as a team,” Zussman said about the national team showing at the 2014 World Cup. “The chemistry and camaraderie was second to none.

“It was an incredible opportunity to make so many friends on the team and tour the world. We challenged ourselves day in and day out. I was part of the first group that centralized in 2011 in Victoria. We trained full time like professional athletes.”

Zussman, who played one season and 11 international tournaments on the national 7s team in 2008, stayed connected with rugby by coaching at the University of Victoria and becoming a game referee.

The first capped-Canadian women’s rugby player to referee at the international level, she has officiated at many 15s and 7s tournaments, including the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, the Rugby World Cup Sevens and the 2021 Rugby World Cup, which was staged in 2022.

Last summer, Zussman returned to Ottawa and refereed the Pacific Four Series match between Canada and World Cup champion New Zealand at TD Place. The game was played before a national women’s record crowd of 10,092.

“Rugby Canada saw I had the right IQ (to be a referee). I was surprised I loved it and took to it. It was an opportunity to be on the field. It was just a chance to challenge myself and give back to the game,” indicated Zussman, who recently joined the University of Victoria athletics department as its associate director for sport compliance and student support, after working for the Office of the Sport Integrity Commissioner as a program co-ordinator.

A member of the Ottawa Sport Hall of Fame and the Rugby Ontario Hall of Fame, Steve Gray made his rugby introduction in 1981 with the Canterbury High School team, the Ottawa Beavers RFC and the Eastern Ontario Rugby Union’s U19 program.

For the next two years, he represented Ontario at the U19 and men’s senior Canadian championships, which earned him his first cap, when the Canadian men’s team played the United States at the Hong Kong Sevens in 1984.

Gray, 60, played with the Canadian men’s national side for 14 seasons from 1984 to 1997 and earned 47 caps, which included significant wins over Scotland, Wales, England, Argentina and France.

He reached the pinnacle of the sport three times, when he was named to Canada’s team for the 1987, 1991 and 1995 World Cup competitions. The highlight was the 1991 World Cup, when Canada placed second in its pool at 2-1 and qualified for the quarterfinals, losing 29-13 to New Zealand. In its other two World Cups, Canada missed the playoffs with 1-2 preliminary-round records.

Gray served as the Canadian team captain on several occasions during his career, which included a victory over New Zealand’s North Island Selects team in 1995. A year later, he was the most capped Canadian player at the time, when the national team played the United States in 1996.

He also was on the national-team roster for the inaugural Rugby World Cup Sevens tournament in 1993, which was one of the many times he wore Canadian 7s colours.

After helping the Ottawa Irish Rugby Club win the Ontario senior league championship in 1987, he headed West and was a regular selection to the Vancouver Rugby Union and British Columbia teams.