Canada

Canadian World Cup stars Stephanie Bernier and Marie-Pier Pinault-Reid have announced their retirement. Both scrumhalf Bernier and loosehead prop Pinault-Reid were named to the 2014 Women’s World Cup Dream Team for their outstanding contributions to Canada’s 2nd place finish. They also share the same home club – Club de Rugby …

The Emerald Isle is back on the schedule. Canada will send a domestic side to Ireland in August. Originally planned at the beginning of the year, the tour to Ireland was due to be shelved in favor of a Pacific competition, but with the unusual timing and Pacific sides already …

BC Bears coach Gabriel Fulcher has named his starting side to take on England Counties at Klahanie Park in West Vancouver on Friday. Americas Rugby Championship caps Liam Chisholm and Joe Dolesau headline a team that contains only seven returning players from last year’s entry in the Canadian Rugby Championship. …

England Counties have named 27 players take part in a three-match tour to Canada starting this weekend. The team is a select team chosen from the third tier of English rugby, one level below the Greene King IPA Championship. While the majority are not fully professional players, there are some …

Djustice Sears-Duru has inked a one-year contract with Glasgow Warriors. The Canadian prop joined the Guinness Pro 12 semi-finalists in March on a short-term deal until the end of the season. That move has now been made permanent, until at least the end of the 2016/17 season. The 22-year-old has …

PRO Rugby has been running a fan-driven team name competition for the past couple weeks and has now revealed shortlists for each of the five franchises. Evidently thousands of team names have been submitted, and while it’s not entirely clear what the process has been or who has decided which …

Mark Hammett has named a 33-strong training group for Japan’s final preparations for their one-off test at BC Place in Vancouver on June 11 and the two-match series against Scotland following. Injuries have ruled out captain Michael Leitch and fullback Ayumu Goromaru, while Hosea Saumaki’s eligibility request was, as expected, …

Canadian points scoring machine Ghislaine Landry has been named to the official World Rugby Dream Team for the 2015/16 HSBC Women’s Sevens Series. The 27-year-old had another exceptional year, repeating as highest point scorer on the circuit and ranking third in tries scored. Her 575 career points are second only to …

Canada took the battle in Clermont-Ferrand on Sunday, but Australia has won the war, having been officially crowned champions of the 2015/16 HSBC Women’s Sevens Series. Their Cup final appearance was more than enough to maintain their overwhelming lead over runners-up New Zealand, over whom they enjoyed a 12-point lead …

Up and Under is a weekly feature on Americas Rugby News which reviews the best and worst from games involving the Americas teams over the previous week. UP Canada Women’s 7s A 29-19 win by Canada over Australia on Sunday saw the North Americans crowned champions of the French leg …