Last-chance bid to qualify for Rugby World Cup

It’s called the Rugby World Cup repechage, a last-chance qualifier for the sport’s biggest showcase. But for Rugby Canada, it could be dubbed the $10-million tournament.

That’s Rugby Canada’s estimate of the cost of failing to make the Rugby World Cup. Miss out on the party and World Rugby, the sport’s governing body, sends its largesse elsewhere.

Coach Kingsley Jones will be looking to hang on to those much-needed dollar signs next month when he leads Canada, featuring Lakefield’s Tyler Ardron and Lindsay’s Brett Beukeboom, into the tournament in Marseille, France.

The Canadian men, currently ranked 23rd in the world, will be battling No. 21 Hong Kong, No. 28 Kenya and No. 29 Germany for the 20th and last berth in the 2019 World Cup in Japan. The roundrobin repechage runs Nov. 11-23 at the 5,000-capacity Stade Delort.

Canada, which has never missed a World Cup, dropped into the last-chance qualifier for the first time after losing two-game playoffs against the 15th-ranked U.S. Eagles and No. 18 Uruguay. Veteran scrum half Phil Mack will captain a team that features star forward Tyler Ardron, who plays for New Zealand’s Chiefs, and high-scoring back DTH van der Merwe is with Scotland’s Glasgow Warriors.

Other overseas pros on the roster include Jake Ilnicki, Brett Beukeboom, Evan Olmstead, Josh Larsen, Ciaran Hearn, Conor Trainor, Taylor Paris, Matt Evans and Shane O’Leary.

Jones has complained in the past that many of his overseas pros are not getting playing time with their clubs. But he said Friday that that situation has improved in recent weeks.

Scrum half Andrew Ferguson is unavailable due to a torn bicep. That earned a recall for Jamie Mackenzie.

The ongoing dispute with the sevens team has also impacted selection given the players have not joined the centralized playing pool over concern with their playing contract. Jones said two or three of the sevens players might have been considered had they been training.