Trail-blazing Canadian headed to world rugby hall
AL CHARRON
Former Canada captain Al Charron is headed to the World Rugby Hall of Fame.
The 51-year-old Ottawa native won 76 caps for Canada, a national record that stood for 14 years until broken by Aaron Carpenter in June. Charron played in four Rugby World Cups and was a trailblazer for Canadian rugby, playing overseas for Bristol and Moseley in England and Dax in France.
“One of the most dominant loose forwards in the world during the 1990s,” the Hall of Fame said in its announcement.
Charron was a physical presence, a six-foot-five 255-pound slab of a man known for making crunching tackles on defence and rampaging through opposition forwards on offence. It was a style of play that took its toll on everyone concerned.
“There are two kinds of captains,” veteran Canadian prop Rod Snow once said. “Captains who always do the right thing and captains who always say the right thing.
“Al is one of those guys who always does the right thing, I think sometimes that carries a lot more weight than words.”
“If he’s doing it, then you should probably do the same thing,” prop Kevin Tkachuk echoed.
Charron will be joined at the Nov. 10 induction ceremony in Rugby, England, by Argentina’s Felipe Contepomi, England’s Rob Andrew, France’s Fabien Pelous and American Phaidra Knight.
“It’s a huge honour,” Charron said in an interview. “I’m not really sure what to say about it but I’m pretty thrilled just to be considered. But to be actually inducted, well it’s fantastic.”
The talismanic Charron joins Gareth Rees and Heather Moyse as the only Canadians in the Hall, whose members will number 137 with the new class. Rees was inducted in 2011 and Moyse in 2016.
Charron captained Canada 25 times, a record he shares with Rees. He represented Canada at the inaugural Rugby World Cup Sevens in 1993 and played for the storied Barbarians five times.
Charron debuted against Argentina in 1990, making his final appearance at the 2003 World Cup against Tonga. At the age of 37, Charron amazingly returned four months after surgery to repair torn anterior and medial collateral ligaments and meniscus to make the 2003 tournament in Australia.
“He’s the heartbeat of the team,” coach David Clark said at the time. “He’s the man that everybody follows and reveres.”
Charron exited on his shield, stretchered out of a beachside stadium in Wollongong after being felled by a ferocious shoulder tackle from 227-pound Tongan fly half Pierre Hola.
Charron was unconscious before he hit the turf, blood pouring from his face and neck splayed at an ungodly angle. After getting 16 stitches in his lower lip and gums, Charron walked gingerly back into the team hotel to a standing ovation from his teammates.
More often than not, it was Charron that left the mark. He bulled his way over for the last-minute try that, with a Rees conversion, gave Canada a historic 26-24 win over Wales in 1993 in Cardiff.
At the 1999 World Cup, hits by Charron reverberated around the stands. The Times of London, calling him “superb, perennial, omnipresent,” named Charron to its World Cup tournament all-star team.
He remains a physical presence to this day. Getting up, Charron unfolds like a giant deck chair. Shaking hands with the big man is like watching your fist disappear in a giant ball of dough.
Charron’s legacy in Canada is already assured. Rugby Canada’s new facility in Langford, B.C., nearing completion, is named the Al Charron Rugby Canada National Training Centre.