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Former French Head Coach Philippe Saint-André has joined Kingsley Jones as a consultant for Canada’s upcoming RWC Qualifiers against Uruguay. The two-match series is to have games played in Vancouver and Montevideo on January 27 and February 3.
The winner of the series will seal their place in Japan 2019. The successful qualifier will be Americas 2 and will play against Australia, Fiji, Georgia and Wales in Pool D of next year’s Rugby World Cup.
Both Kingley Jones and Philippe Saint-André have prior coaching experience at Rugby World Cups. Saint-André coached France at Rugby World Cup 2015 while Jones was a consultant to Russian Head Coach Nikolai Nerush ahead of the 2011 Rugby World Cup. He went on to be the National Team Director before the World Cup and subsequently became Head Coach following the tournament.
The pairing also have a prior professional relationship. They worked together for Sale Sharks in the Aviva Premiership. Their new roles together with Canada come at a time in which the North Americans are under a new coaching regime following disappointing performances in 2016-2017.
Canada’s most recent international activity was in the November Internationals. They were beaten 57-17 by Fiji and 54-22 by Georgia. A win did come against Spain with the North Americans doing so by 37-27. It was preceded by home loses against Romania and Georgia and the USA winning the Americas 1 RWC qualification series in June and July.
