Former France coach to help Canada prep for rugby qualifier
Canada coach Kingsley Jones has called in a top-flight reinforcement: former France coach Philippe Saint-Andre.
Saint-Andre told French sports network RMC Sport he will meet up with Jones’ Canada squad this weekend and help out in the days leading up to the Rugby World Cup qualifying match against Uruguay at B.C. Place Stadium on Jan. 27.
Jones was Saint-Andre’s assistant more than a decade ago when the Frenchman was in charge of English club Sale Sharks. The duo won the English premiership in 2006.
According to Saint-Andre, Jones had hoped to have his old boss in the fold for two weeks, but his commentating duties for RMC took precedence.
“This will let me discover another rugby, another culture while also keeping in touch with the top level. I get to commentate on the English premiership every weekend; this will give me a different view. I will bring my expertise and some advice to a coach who is also my friend, for a match that is very important to him,” he said.
Saint-Andre coached France from 2012 to 2015. He was let go after their disastrous 2015 Rugby World Cup campaign, when Les Bleus lost 62-13 to New Zealand in the quarter-finals.
The coach does have some familiarity with Canada, as his side won 41-18 in a very entertaining pool round match in which the French led by just nine points with a quarter of an hour to play.
Under Saint-Andre, France struggled often, losing to the likes of Ireland, England and Wales regularly and never having any success against Southern Hemisphere sides. Whatever magic he’d found while coaching Sale and French giants Toulon didn’t work when he moved to rugby’s highest level.
In Canada’s current 35-man squad, just three backs remain from the group that started against France: Nick Blevins, DTH van der Merwe and Phil Mack. But Jones will also have a few other key backs at his disposal, like wingers Jeff Hassler and Taylor Paris and utility back Connor Braid.
Players missing from the 2015 campaign because of injury are Ciaran Hearn, Conor Trainor and Matt Evans. And so is Andrew Coe, who emerged in 2017 as Canada’s first choice full back. Like Hearn, he was hurt in the final match of Canada’s November series against Fiji. Up front, only a handful of forwards remain from the group that suited up against the French: Tyler Ardron, Brett Beukeboom, Ray Barkwill, Djustice Sears-Duru and Evan Olmstead.
NOTES: Organizers of next week’s match at B.C. Place say around 10,000 tickets have already been sold and are expecting to sell several thousand more.
Most of the reserved seats made available have been sold, but there are plenty of general admission tickets for sections at each end of the stadium are still available.