RUGBY MATTERS
How Canucks could do with Charron nowadays
CANADA have produced a handful of world-class players over the years but none better than Al Charron, whose induction to the World Rugby Hall of Fame has been greeted with universal acclaim. The actual ceremony will take place in Rugby on Friday.
Charron was a supreme back five forward who did battle for Canada for 13 seasons playing in 76 Tests, starting every single one of them. No days off for him. His career took in four World Cups and for over a decade the man from Ottawa was at the very heart and soul of every Canadian side.
There wasn’t a top Test team in the world – including New Zealand – that wouldn’t have found room for Charron in their starting XV. For those who never saw him play he was a taller Chris Robshaw with a tad more gas.
It was bloody tough with Canada but there were some great days along the way, not least a win over Wales in Wales and a victory over a star-studded French side in 1994 that a couple of weeks later did the double over New Zealand. Canada also covered themselves in glory in the 1991 World Cup, giving New Zeeland a fright in the quarterfinals before bowing out.
“The other game I particularMY ly remember was our World Cup match against South Africa at Port Elizabeth,” Charron told me this week. “It’s generally remembered for the flare-up and the sendings-off – two of ours one of theirs – but I also proudly recall a brave rearguard against the soon to be crowned world champions.
“We were 17-0 down at halftime but our 13 absolutely pounded their line for the rest of the game after the dismissals. We turned down all sorts of kickable kicks, we wanted more. We didn’t get it, we lost 20-0 in the end, but we earned a lot of respect.
“For those first two World Cups we were very competitive but the sudden transition to professionalism didn’t do us any favours. During the early Nineties we had narrowed the gap but then it widened again very quickly, and Canada has always struggled to find a professional model that works for us.”
Although never tempted to coach – “I just did my thing and gave 100 per cent for 80 minutes every time; I’m not sure I’m coaching material” – Charron helps the Canadian Union with special events, hospitality and alumni gatherings trying to keep all the old Canucks together. In Vancouver yesterday morning he was hosting a Q&A brunch with Wayne Shelford for friends of Canada rugby. Then a couple of days back in Ottawa entertaining Rod Snow, before heading to Rugby with his wife and a group of friends for the induction and the England v Argentina match.
He adds: “Canadian rugby has had a few challenges recently, the odds against us never shorten, but to my eyes we still have good players. In fact, I look at our squad now and I see as much if not more talent than we had in the Nineties – but the issue is that so many other nations have also improved. I’m talking the Tier Two Nations of whom we used to be pretty much top dog, while the really big countries just get stronger and better.
“It’s a big November for us under our new coach Kingsley Jones. Four very varied matches which we need to use to develop as a side while, hopefully, we can avoid big injuries ahead of our World Cup qualifying double header against Uruguay in the New Year.
“It’s important to Canadian Rugby we get to Japan. We’ve never missed a World Cup and that’s a record that is very dear to us. We need to circle the wagons come those Uruguay games.”