Joe Costello has made tremendous strides with the York Lions women’s rugby team since becoming head coach of the program in 2009.

He was recently named the head coach of the Ontario under-18 women’s team that travelled competed in the 2011 National Rugby Festival. Last summer, Costello was an assistant coach with the Ontario senior women’s team that won a silver medal at the Canadian championships. Prior to that, the teams he coaches at Bishop MacDonnell Catholic High School swept the Central Western Ontario Secondary Schools’ Association (CWOSSA) championships and the girls team also finished second at the Ontario Federation of School Athletic Association (OFSAA) championships.

Costello brings with him a wealth of coaching experience at a number of different levels. In 2007, he helped start a high school rugby program at Bishop MacDonnell in Guelph and in 2008, the girls team finished third at OFSAA and the junior boys squad won CWOSSA without being scored on. He will continue to work with the teams at Bishop MacDonnell in addition to his duties with the Lions.

An NCCP certified coach, Costello has also helped various teams within the Fergus Highland junior ranks, one of the most successful junior clubs in Ontario, and he was a guest coach at the Guelph regional high school clinic put on at the University of Guelph.

On the field Costello was a talented interuniversity rugby player, winning provincial gold and silver medals with the University of Western Ontario. He also won two NRU championships with the Highland Rugby Club. He played for the Niagara Thunder of the Rugby Canada Super League (RCSL) and has participated in games in New Zealand, Australia, the United Kingdom and the Caribbean.

Bob Periard joined the York Lions women’s rugby coaching staff in 2009.

Along with head coach Joe Costello, he helped guide the Ontario senior women’s team to a silver medal at the Canadian championships in the summer of 2010. In 2011 he served as the head coach of Ontario’s under-20 women’s team that competed in the national championships in British Columbia.

Before coming to the Lions, Periard spent two seasons as an assistant coach with the Wilfrid Laurier squad, where he worked with the forwards. He has also served as an assistant coach with the Highland under-18 men’s team and spent three seasons as an assistant at Grand River Collegiate Institute.

Periard enjoyed a successful four-year interuniversity career at Laurier, highlighted by a place on the second all-star team in 2003. He got some international playing experience with Takapuna RFC in Auckland, New Zealand in 2006 and 2007 and before that played with the Niagara Thunder in the Rugby Canada Super League on the NRU senior men’s rep team. He is currently still in action with the Highland Rugby Football Club.

Adam Philips began working with the York women’s rugby team as an assistant coach in 2009 and returned again this year as both an assistant coach and skills trainer.

An NCCP certified rugby coach, he has two years of experience coaching the girls’ rugby team at Guelph Collegiate Vocational Institute. He also spent six years coach junior and senior boys’ rugby programs at the same school, leading GCVI to five championships in six years.

Philips played rugby for several years prior to becoming a coach. He began with the Guelph Rugby Club before attending GCVI, where his high school team was ranked third in Ontario. He also played for the Highland Men’s Rugby Club, the Burlington Centaurs, Conestoga College and in the Niagara Rugby Union. He continues to stay involved on the field and occasionally hits the pitch for the Toronto Blues Police Rugby Club.