Nickname(s) | Canucks, Les Rouges |
---|---|
Emblem | Maple leaf |
Union | Rugby Canada |
Head coach | Kingsley Jones |
Captain | Phil Mack |
Most caps | Aaron Carpenter (79) |
Top scorer | James Pritchard (607) |
Top try scorer | DTH van der Merwe (25) |
World Rugby ranking | |
Current | 23 (as of 6 July) |
Highest | 12 (2011) |
Lowest | 23 currently (2017) |
First international | |
Japan 9–8 Canada (31 January 1932) |
|
Biggest win | |
Barbados 3–71 Canada (24 June 2006) |
|
Biggest defeat | |
England 70–0 Canada (13 November 2004) |
|
World Cup | |
Appearances | 8 (First in 1987) |
Best result | Quarter-finals, 1991 |
Website | www |
The Canada national rugby union team is governed by Rugby Canada, and play in red and white. Canada is classified by World Rugby as a tier two rugby nation. There are ten tier one nations, and thirteen tier two nations. Canada competes in competitions such as the Pacific Nations Cup and the Rugby World Cup.
Canada has been playing international rugby since the early 1930s, making their debut in 1932 against Japan. Canada have competed at every World Cup since the tournament was first staged in 1987, the only North American team to do so. Canada achieved their best result at the World Cup in 1991, where they reached the quarter-finals. Canada is a dominant power of North American rugby and currently ranks fourth in the Americas after Argentina, the USA and Uruguay. The team has achieved victories over traditionally stronger Six Nations teams such as France, Wales, Italy, and Scotland on at least one occasion in past years. Canada is currently ranked 22nd in the IRB World Rankings.
In 1874 the first North American international game took place in Cambridge, Massachusetts between McGill and Harvard universities. Later that same year a second game was played, but this time Harvard were the hosts, and the game was played with early "American Football" rules. Today, in carrying on the oldest annual sporting competition in North America, McGill University and Harvard University continue the tradition of competing for the Covo Cup, at alternating venues each November, using the original rules of rugby football. McGill University can therefore lay claim to being the oldest rugby club in Canada, but due to rugby's popularity among students and the McGill University Rugby Football Club's affiliation with the university, the claim as the oldest independent rugby club goes to the still active Westmount Rugby Football Club.