There are 13 uncapped players in the Eagles squad for the Americas Rugby Championship. It does sound like a lot. By comparison there were 10 new caps in last year’s ARC. The inaugural ARC in 2016, however, handed debuts to a whopping 25 newcomers. Of those, seven are returning for …
Read More »Heaton Ready to Tackle All Comers
When he’s not busy throwing his body in front of small buses disguised as human beings, Matt Heaton can often be found moving heavy inanimate objects on iron bars. A casual glance at his social media postings will tell you that the hours required in the gym by a professional …
Read More »High hopes for Canadian University Men’s Championship
Canadian rugby could be on the verge of a significant milestone on November as a joint announcement last week confirmed an initiative to hold a Canadian Men’s University Rugby Championship in November of this year. The event is set to be hosted by Guelph University, located approximately 100 km west …
Read More »Notes from the North
Once again we’ve drifted far too long between entries. With so much going on behind the scenes it’s hard to keep track of what’s most important in Canadian rugby right now but in this column we’ll try to focus on the immediate concerns – the Women’s World Cup, the CRC, …
Read More »The Straight Feed – Fixing the Fixers
It’s now July 4. Independence Day for those who hail from South of the 49th. Or holed up at the Alaskan Mountain Grounds. The Eagles have now been celebrating for the best part of three days straight. Not only did they steal Canada’s spot in the World Cup, they also …
Read More »USA vs Canada – The Keys to Victory
The day of reckoning is upon us and come Saturday evening there will be one more team with anime invitations in their inbox. While the game in Hamilton was exciting from a spectator’s point of view, it was rife with errors from both teams and in terms of execution left …
Read More »Why Canada must win on Saturday
International rugby is about winning. That goes for every minute of every match. Winning the set piece, winning the collisions, whatever battle that needs to be won to walk away victorious. In sport, however, some games are more important than others. The knock-outs. Local derbies. Cup finals. The Americas 1 …
Read More »World Cup Qualifiers – Who will Canada pick?
The June international series is nearly upon us and with it the Americas 1 Rugby World Cup Qualifiers. That means it’s the the most important time of the year for Canada’s senior men’s team and they’ll need all hands on deck as they face off against the mighty US Eagles. …
Read More »Notes from the North
It’s been a while since the last issue and there’s simply too much to talk about all at once, but here are some updates and comments on a few of the more prominent topics being passed around Canadian rugby quarters at the moment. More to come next week. HIGH FIVE …
Read More »The Straight Feed – Woe Canada
Now that the euphoria of the Vancouver 7s has faded it’s time to get back to serious business. To steal a phrase from Chris LeFevre’s open letter, Canadian rugby is ‘heading into the abyss’ and it’s time to start clawing our way out. Conveniently Rugby Canada’s Annual General Meeting is this …
Read More »