Rugby Hive Hosts
Dallen Stanford
Robin MacDowell
Born and raised in the Cowichan Valley on Vancouver Island, former Rugby Canada International Robin MacDowell is an athlete-centered coach who has been coaching sports at all levels for 30 years. After several years playing professional rugby in France and Italy, he returned home, where he played on the University of Victoria varsity team, and to realize his dream of playing Sevens Rugby for Canada.
As a former international athlete who travelled the world as both player and coach, Robin has a strong understanding of what it takes for elite athletes get to the next level. He is passionate about growing the game across North America, and has coached at the University of Victoria, University of British Columbia, and University of Regina.
Robin has been highly successful in coaching various select teams, as well as has vast experience coaching at the international level, most notably five years with the Mexican Women’s National Sevens team through the 2018 Rugby World Cup 7s in San Francisco, and their Olympic qualification and appearance. For the past 6 years, Robin has worked with the Canadian Men's and Women's 7s pathway programs.
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Currently, MacDowell Rugby programs are operating successfully in throughout Canada and on Vancouver Island, where MacDowell's first ever high performance academy in partnership with Cowichan High School is thriving after 3 successful years. MACDOWELL RUGBY grows year after year and strength over strength, enjoying many high profile tours and producing many world-class male and female 7s and 15s athletes.
Dallen hails from Cape Town, South Africa. Having relocated to the USA in 2003, he represented USA on the Sevens World Series from 2007-2009, won National 15s and 7s titles with Belmont Shore RFC, coached Occidental College Men's RFC to a National 7s title, captained Team USA to a Gold medal in 7s at both the 2013 World Maccabiah Games in Israel and 2015 Pan American Maccabiah Games in Chile, and is now a World Rugby commentator.
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For the past 15 years, Dallen has worked in broadcasting as a lead commentator covering various events including the 2023 Rugby World Cup in France, 2019 Rugby World Cup in Japan, 2022 Sevens World Cup in Cape Town, 2018 Sevens World Cup in San Francisco, the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series (since 2015), World Rugby U20 Championships, Americas Rugby Championships, Premier Rugby Sevens, Rugby Tens Championships and Major League Rugby, appearing on CBS Sports Network, Fox Sports, Peacock, and ESPN.
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From 2011 to 2017, Dallen was the Los Angeles Program Director for Play Rugby USA, who use the unique power of rugby to empower and inspire youth, (primarily from underserved communities) to go forward and realize their true potential. The program grew from 50 to over 5,000 elementary and middle school girls and boys during that time. Dallen served as the Director of Sports Partnerships for Friends of the British Council from 2017-2020, working with Premiership Rugby and USA Rugby to send nearly 100 American coaches to England for a life changing coach education experience.
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Dallen is currently the Program Director for FlagX (also called TagX) alongside legendary USA 7s star Perry Baker. Together, they use this super fun non-contact game to grow the sport, connect with alumni, and raise funds for rugby clubs globally. Dallen is also an Ambassador for Tsunami Sport, the Algarve 7s multi sport event in Portugal, and Eggchaser 7s in England.
Karen Gasbarino
Karen adds the written word to The Hive. Her Legends of Tomorrow Spotlights shine the light on up-and-coming talents, but she also writes about present legends. She's been writing about rugby union for more than a decade and is proud to have interviewed genuine legends from home and abroad. Karen has written more than 100 pieces for various rugby outlets, including Rugby Canada. She ran the Rugby United Canada Twitter account from 2012-2024 and worked with the former MLR team Toronto Arrows supporters' club. Currently, Karen is proudly serving as the Canadian Classics Women's Communication Coordinator, supporting the team on their epic tours.