New rugby coach insists Canada is up for the test
Canada, Uruguay to play home-and-home series for right to go to 2019 World Cup
New Canadian rugby coach Kingsley Jones only arrived in Victoria on Sunday night, but has hit the ground running to the end zone, with the urgency of a man with little time to spare.
Jones talked Tuesday about short-term and long-term goals.
The latter is now set with the announcement Canada will play Uruguay on Jan. 27 at B.C. Place and Feb. 3 in Montevideo in the two-game, total-point Americas repechage series with the winner advancing to the 2019 World Cup in Japan.
“Everything builds to the Uruguay games,” said Jones, stressing the importance of the set.
It was necessitated by the 80-44 two-game total-point blowout loss over the summer against the U.S. Eagles in the North American qualifying series for the 2019 World Cup. That, and a series of other Test losses, cost former coach Mark Anscombe his job.
The Welshman Jones, who was announced as the Kiwi Anscombe’s replacement last month and will be based on the Island, has been tasked with stemming Canada’s freefall to No. 24 in the world and winning the back-door Americas regional World Cup qualifying set against No. 18 Uruguay. It is the first time Canada has not advanced directly to the World Cup out of the North American qualifier.
Jones will have four opportunities, those short-term goals of which he spoke, to assess the Canadian players in game situations. The first of those promises to be a grand spectacle with the lower bowl of B.C. Place sold-out for the fixture against the New Zealand Maori All Blacks on Nov. 3.
“Playing the Maori will be a great occasion, and a great opportunity,” added Jones.
That will be followed by Canada games against No. 12 Georgia, No. 19 Spain and No. 9 Fiji in Europe during the November Test window.
Jones will do the rest of his assessing during trials and training sessions at the Rugby Canada Centre of Excellence in Langford, where the national team is centralized.
“Having 26-27 players centralized provides an excellent opportunity to make the players better and help them improve,” said Jones.
“It’s a chance for me to make assessments but also a chance for the players to get to know me. It’s a new face, a new opinion and a new view.”
Of particular concern for Jones is shoring up Canada’s sagging defence.
“We have players who can use the wider channels and score tries,” he noted.
“But that’s [mitigated] if you are giving up a lot of points in return. You need balance. It’s about fundamentals and defence and ball retention.”
As former coach of the Russian national team, Jones knows all about the challenges of uniting sport across vast distances in a nation better known for ice hockey. He laid the foundation for Russia’s rise to top-20 in the world.
Centralization, by necessity, plays a critical role in national team strategy across a number of sports in both Canada and Russia and Jones is familiar with it.
The 48-year-old father of two has also coached in the English Premiership, European Championship and Pro-12. He was a flanker in his playing days, capped 10 times for Wales between 1996 to 1998 and toured with the famed Barbarians and played pro for Worcester, Glasgow and Pontypridd.