Stakes high as Canada goes into qualifier against arch-rival

Head coach Kingsley Jones knows what’s at stake today when his Langford-based Canadian national rugby team opens World Cup qualifying for France 2023 against the U.S. in St. John’s, N.L. (10:30 a.m. PT on pay site Premier Sports).

Canada used to be a reliable second-tier rugby nation and has proved it by qualifying for every World Cup since the event began in 1987. But it only took the 20th and final berth last time out for World Cup Japan 2019 through the last-chance qualifier.

Any further slip will mean falling to the third tier, an untenable prospect nobody in Canadian rugby wants to see.

Canada is ranked No. 22 in the world. It is 38-23-2 all-time against the U.S., but that’s ancient history. More tellingly, Canada has not beaten the U.S. in their past 12 meetings in going 0-11-1 against the Americans dating to 2013. Nobody cares how dominant Canada was in the rivalry in the 1930s or 1980s — it’s what have you done lately that matters.

Jones outlined several reasons for Canada’s decline in XVs but believes it can be rectified through qualifying for 2023.

“The focus on sevens [which became an Olympic sport in 2016] has been a real challenge for us,” Jones said of the diverted, two-track development and funding model the emergence of sevens has meant for rugby. But it has been the same for all nations.

On the plus side have been two recent developments.

“The establishment of Major League Rugby in has provided a pro pathway for Canadian players in North America,” Jones said from St. John’s.

“That, and the re-establishment of the Pacific Pride development program [U-23 in Langford], has also been huge for us in terms of progressing our younger players. You are really going to see the effects of that for the 2027 World Cup.”

But that’s a long way off. Of immediate concern is 2023.

“It’s our 25-, 26- 27-year-olds who are really going to have to step up for that, beginning [today] in St. John’s,” said Sooke resident Jones.

While Canada has seen its status slide in rugby, the U.S. has been rising over the past decade. But Jones doesn’t see why Canada can’t run with the U.S., ranked world No. 16.

“I believe that a ranking of 12th in the world is real target for both nations,” he said.

His charges can start proving that today.

“We will need to match the physicality of the big U.S. team,” said Jones.

The clash is a two-game, total point set, so it is essentially a 160-minute game, with the tie switching to Infinity Park in Glendale, Colorado, for chapter two next Saturday.

Canada will then continue World Cup qualifying Oct. 2 at Starlight Stadium in Langford against either Uruguay or Chile.

The winner of the U.S. versus Canada total-points set will meet Uruguay at home Oct. 2 (in Canada’s case, at Starlight Stadium) and in Montevideo on Oct. 9 with the winner of that set advancing to the World Cup 2023 France.

The loser of the Canada-U.S. set will face Chile on Oct. 2 at home (in Canada’s case, at Starlight Stadium) and Oct. 9 in Santiago with the loser of that eliminated and the winner staying alive and advancing to a repechage round.