Carpenter set to take Charron’s rugby record
Saturday’s match against Romania will be Brantford native’s 77th international cap
It’s one of those worthy sports events that can get lost on the calendar — an international rugby test match between Canada and Romania Saturday at Ellerslie Rugby Park.
At midafternoon Thursday, however, it officially became more than a game. It became an occasion.
On Saturday, the all-time national record for international appearances previously owned by Al Charron will be broken when Aaron Carpenter starts for Canada.
Religiously sticking to the rule of releasing their starting lineup exactly 48 hours prior to game time, Canada announced the starting lineup at 3 p.m. Thursday.
Aaron Carpenter’s name was listed. It will be his 77th cap.
Charron, a massive man and personality for Canada during his career, played 76 and in four Rugby World Cups — 1991, 1995, 1999 and 2003.
The six-foot-five Charron will be on the property to mark the occasion, as he was Thursday as the team chose to practice at Commonwealth Stadium while the soggy field recovered at Ellerslie.
To many people close to the sport in this country, this probably represents a sad and not totally fair day. Charron, who has a set of hands so big he wouldn’t need a glove to catch a knuckleball, has long been Canada’s iconic rugby player. And back in his day, test matches were about as frequent as finding rugby players who didn’t drink the odd keg of beer.
While the record for most international caps ever belongs to Richie McCaw of New Zealand with 148, Charron’s 76 were viewed as rather remarkable considering he did it for Canada.
“I’d like to think this is pretty significant for Aaron,” said Ottawa product Charron, who now works for Rugby Canada doing fundraising, goodwill ambassador appearances, alumni relations and an assortment of other roles.
“I’ve held this record since I retired after my final World Cup in Australia. I’m not really sure when I broke it or where I broke it.
“Maybe we didn’t play as many test matches back then as they do today, but you can’t play as many as Aaron has played without being a player. There’s amazing competition in the back-row position in this country, so he had to beat down challenges, beat down selections and beat down injuries to amass that many games.
“It’s an honour and a privilege to play once for your country, but to get up to 77 and beyond is a testament to him. I consider it to have been such an honour to have been chosen so many times to represent Canada I get choked up talking about it, to tell you the truth.”
Charron lists his highlight as getting to the World Cup quarter-final against New Zealand in the 1991 World Cup held in Great Britain.
“The two best games we played in that World Cup were probably the two that we lost. We should have defeated France. I’m not saying we should have defeated New Zealand, but we outscored them in the second half.”
Carpenter is rather overwhelmed he’s going to become Canada’s most capped international rugby player Saturday.
“I’m just really proud it could happen to me,” said the 34-yearold Brantford, Ont. native. “Al did it in a different time. That’s why I think his feat is a lot more impressive than mine. He played a lot longer than I have so far. He’s a legend. Just to be mentioned in the same breath as him is huge.”
Carpenter, who plays pro for Doncaster Knights in England, has played in three World Cups and has a goal of matching Charron’s four.
“To play to age 36 would be a stretch,” he said. “That’s the next World Cup. Hopefully, I can make it that long.
“I’d really like four World Cups under my belt. That would be awesome.”
Carpenter receiving his 77th cap may not be the only occasion of note in the test match against Romania. South African born D.T.H. van der Merwe goes into the game one try away from equalling the all-time Canadian try scoring record of 24 set by Victoria’s Winston Stanley.
Also, Saturday’s game will mark the return of Tyler Andron, who has been out with injury since the 2015 World Cup. Andron recently became only the third Canadian after Christian Stewart and Jebb Sinclair to sign a Super Rugby contract with the Chiefs in New Zealand.
What would really make it an occasion would be if they all combined to give Canada a win. The team has lost the last four to Romania, including a heartbreaking 17-15 last-minute defeat to make their exit from the 2015 Rugby World Cup.