Plymouth Albion sign Canada international Brett Beukeboom

Plymouth Albion have signed Canada international lock Brett Beukeboom for the upcoming Championship season.

The 22-year-old joins the club from Ontario Blues and played twice for his country this summer against the USA and Georgia, as well as featuring in the 2009 Junior World Cup.

"It was a pretty easy decision coming to a club like this and getting my first start professionally," he said.

"It's something I wanted to do for a long time," he added to BBC Sport.

Beukeboom joins fellow Canadian's Aaron Carpenter and Sean-Michael Stephen at the Brickfields and says the club's reputation in his home country helped him make his decision.

"A lot of Canadians come over here because of the club through connections and some of the guys on the team.

"I've heard from some of the guys that it's a really physical league and there's a lot of games which we lack in rugby in Canada.

"It'll be a real grind to get through all the games but I'm really looking forward to getting through them."

And Beukeboom, who describes himself as a very physical lock who specialises in lineouts, feels that playing in the Championship will help his chances of getting more international call-ups.

"Playing more games throughout the season will definitely help me along with the Canadian side," he added.