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Aaron Carpenter will become Canada’s most-capped player of all time on Saturday when he runs out to make his 77th senior appearance against Romania at Ellerslie Park in Edmonton. In doing so the 34-year-old No 8 overtakes the great Al Charron, with whom he is currently tied on 76 following the match against Georgia in Calgary.
The Brantford Harlequins product made his test debut against the US Eagles in 2005 and has been a mainstay for his country since, starting in 59 games, 52 of them at the back of the scrum. Two brief experiments at the hooker position saw him start seven times in the No 2 shirt but it’s at No 8 where his greatest contributions have come. Carpenter has captained the team on 14 occasions, taking over the leadership role following the 2011 World Cup and holding it until Tyler Ardron was appointed by then-coach Kieran Crowley in November 2013.
Carpenter might have already broken the record had it not been for a broken arm suffered against Ireland in the first test of the 2016 November international series. In fact Carpenter has made a dozen further appearances for the senior side in Churchill Cup matches against Senior ‘A’ side or the New Zealand Maori. In those cases Canada opted not to award caps despite selecting their own senior team and having previously awarded caps against both Scotland and England ‘A’ sides.
A veteran of three World Cups, only five men have captained Canada on more occasions than Carpenter in test matches and Colin McKenzie is the only other to reach even 20 caps at No 8. Carpenter’s 16 test tries are the most by a forward in Canadian history and bettered only by outside backs Winston Stanley, DTH van der Merwe, and James Pritchard among all other players.
