No one’s going to put it better than Canadian captain Jamie Cudmore did following his team’s fourth loss in four games at a tremendously disappointing 2015 Rugby World Cup.
“What do you think it’s like?” Cudmore said of the mood in Canada’s dressing room. “It’s f—ing horrible.”
And with that, the Canadians fly home. They began training for this tournament more than three months ago with high hopes of winning two of their four pool games to automatically qualify for the 2019 World Cup. Today, they leave Europe sitting last place in the Pool D table, staring ahead at a steep hill to climb in qualifying for that 2019 tournament in Japan.
Disappointing is really the only way to sum things up for Canada. They did their best in defeat against a far superior Ireland side, suffered a heartbreaker in a game they should have won against Italy, stood in with France’s best for 60 minutes before falling apart down the stretch against much superior competition, and completely choked in their finale against Romania, coughing up a 15-point lead in the second half of a game they had dominated up until that point.
No one expected Canada to reach the quarter-finals, but wins over Italy and especially Romania were well within reach, with both games being lost due to a troubling lack of late-game finish. Canada played adventurous, dynamic rugby at times throughout the tournament, attacking from sideline to sideline with hard-charging backs, getting creative at the lineout and using a devastating quick ball technique in the scrum that gave their opposition fits.
But when it came time to put teams on ice and seal victories in the waning moments of games, Canada couldn’t get the job done. In his final post-match press conference of the tournament, and perhaps his final as Canadian head coach (more on that later), Kieran Crowley characterized his team’s second-half performance as “disappointing” and “naïve,” saying “the wheels fell off.” It’s hard to disagree with him.
Canada did do some things very, very well in this tournament. When they were at their best, they were playing up-tempo, attacking rugby, controlling the pace of games and leaving their opponents visibly frustrated. Winger DTH Van Der Merwe and centre Ciaran Hearn had terrific tournaments, as did the front row of Ray Barkwill, Doug Wooldridge and Hubert Buydens, the latter two doing yeomen’s work as Canada’s starting props in all four games. Canada’s scrum in general deserves praise for digging in deep on their own five metre line against much larger, tactically-sound packs from Italy, France and Romania, driving their counterparts backwards and earning crucial penalties under the shadows of their own goal posts.
There were plenty of moments like those to be remembered for Canada. But in the end, the results simply weren’t there. Here’s some takeaways after a disappointing couple weeks for Rugby Canada.
Missed Opportunities
The two games that will haunt the Canadians for some time will be the 23-18 defeat at the hands of Italy and Tuesday’s 17-15 loss to Romania.
Canada dominated the game against Italy in terms of both territory (58% to Italy’s 42%) and possession (59% to 41%), making far more metres, clean breaks and carries across the gain line than their opponents. And yet, a frustrating inability to cross the try line and seven penalties conceded in their own half doomed Canada to finishing second in a game that even the Italians admitted they had little business winning.
Canada was even more dominant against Romania, making 497 metres to Romania’s 241, with 51 carries across the gain line. Fullback Harry Jones and winger Jeff Hassler made 255 metres on their own, which was more than Romania’s entire team. And yet, Canada faded in the second half, leaving 11 points on the table through missed kicks and allowing Romania to slow the game down with repeated scrums and driving mauls, sucking Canada into a war of forward pack attrition they could not win. Romania scored 17 unanswered second-half points to earn the biggest comeback in Rugby World Cup history.
To their credit, Canadian players and coaches never made excuses for their poor late-game efforts— Crowley said his team “just about cried all the way through” watching video of the Italy match days later—with Cudmore even going so far as to apologize to Canadian supporters after the Romania defeat. But these missed opportunities sting. If Canada had won both games, they would have likely finished third in their pool and automatically qualified for the 2019 World Cup. That would have meant more opportunities to play top nations over the next four years. Now, Canada will have to qualify for the 2019 tournament the hard way, and won’t be afforded as many opportunities to test themselves against tier-one nations.
Van Der Merwe’s tournament for the ages
That was a lot of bad; here’s something good. No Canadian had a finer tournament than winger DTH Van Der Merwe, who started all four contests and was easily Canada’s most dynamic, dangerous player on the pitch at all times.
The 29-year-old scored a try in each of Canada’s four games and currently stands as the tournament leader in metres made, with 381 through four games (to put that in perspective, Ciaran Hearn was second on Canada with 175). Van Der Merwe is now the Canadian leader in Rugby World Cup tries with six and has 20 for his international career, trailing closely behind Winston Stanley’s Canadian record of 24.
Van Der Merwe wasn’t exactly an unknown commodity coming into the tournament, his third World Cup with Canada, but is certainly on many more radars now. He’ll play for Scarlets this season, after six years with the Glasgow Warriors, and if his body holds up over the next few campaigns he’ll have an opportunity to play in his fourth World Cup for Canada in 2019. That’s a rare feat for a Canadian, as only six men have managed it—Al Charron, Mike James, Gareth Rees, Rod Snow, Jamie Cudmore and James Pritchard.
If Van Der Merwe can join that exclusive club, along with knocking off Stanley’s try-scoring record over the next few years, he’ll go down as one of the greatest rugby players in Canada’s history.
Injuries, injuries, injuries
It’s tempting to wonder how different the tournament could have looked for Canada had they not run into injury trouble. Winger Taylor Paris (knee) and prop Jason Marshall (rib cartilage) were lost in tune-up games before the tournament even began, while flyhalf Liam Underwood (knee) was knocked out of the tournament in Canada’s opening game against Ireland.
Winger Jeff Hassler (calf) and scrum half Gordon McRorie (shoulder) both took knocks in the Ireland game as well which held them out of Canada’s starting lineup until the finale against Romania, while dynamic back rower Tyler Ardron missed Canada’s first game with a knee injury, played terrifically again Italy, and then was knocked from the tournament against France as the result of a separate knee injury. Centre Connor Braid also ended his World Cup early due to a broken jaw suffered against the Italians, while fullback Matt Evans was lost to a knee injury. And those are just the ones we know about.
There are a few things at play here. Canada embarked on an ambitious pre-tournament schedule, playing four tune-up games in 16 days, a demanding agenda designed to help a team that doesn’t train together year-round work out any kinks and build up to full speed for the greater tests that lay ahead. It clearly paid dividends, as Canada looked well-drilled and cohesive at various times throughout their four games. But the rigorous schedule may have taken its toll on the players.
Canada knew it had a very challenging World Cup schedule in store, as the team was tasked with playing it’s final three pool games in an 11-day span, something Crowley publicly said wouldn’t be asked of tier-one nations like France or Ireland. France, it should be noted, received just three days off between its first two games of the tournament, but had seven free days ahead of facing Canada and another nine before a clash with Ireland this weekend. Ireland, meanwhile, has at least six days off between each of its contests.
Of course, this is still rugby. It’s a punishing, collision-based sport. Injuries are going to happen to all teams at this World Cup, and arguably no one has any right to complain about missing players while witnessing what Wales has accomplished through an absolutely unbelievable string of injuries. But what hurts Canada is a lack of depth in the national program, meaning that when high-level players like Paris and Ardron go down, their productivity is difficult to replace.
The future of Kieran Crowley
Canadian head coach Kieran Crowley’s contract is up this year and his future with the national program is in question, as any coach’s would be after a winless World Cup.
Canada has adopted a much more quick, expansive and exciting style of play under Crowley’s guidance over the past year and while there were some growing pains with the system—especially during Canada’s 0-4 effort in this summer’s Pacific Nations Cup—you could see it paying dividends against all four teams Canada played during the World Cup. There is merit to this style of rugby and one needs to look no further than Japan’s unbelievable upset of South Africa last month to see how effective a quick, relentless system like that can be against a team playing a more traditional, plodding, forward-based brand of rugby.
Working against Crowley is the fact the results simply haven’t been there, as Canada has lost 10 of its last 11 tests. But considering the numerous challenges facing Canadian rugby, it could be argued that he’s done the best with what he’s had to work with. So, we’ll see. What will be important for Rugby Canada to figure out is whether Crowley maintains the trust and belief of his players and if he’s genuinely interested in continuing with the role. No matter what happens, his status will be an interesting one to watch.
Looking forward
What perpetually holds Canada back from taking significant steps forward as a 15-a-side rugby nation is the lack of a domestic professional league and a shortage of high-quality test matches between World Cups.
While some Canadians have found pro contracts overseas, many of the players who made up the World Cup side are amateurs who don’t have the means to train for rugby on a full-time basis. A North American semi-professional circuit would go a long way to helping Canada develop the kind of talent required to compete with the world’s best. Nothing is close to being done, but with the success of Major League Soccer and the National Lacrosse League in North America it’s not hard to envision a similar model for rugby domestically. Of course, someone would have to pay for it.
Additionally, more test matches with tier-one nations would give those Canadian players more experience in the kind of high-pressure, late-game situations that they struggled to navigate over the last few weeks. Canadian officials feel strongly that over the last three months—which saw Canada’s best players training and working together round-the-clock—they’ve proven they can compete with the big boys if given the proper resources to prepare. Their best case for that would be the team’s solid first 40 minutes against France at the World Cup. The counter-point would be Canada’s failure to put away winnable games like the matches with Italy and Romania.
Other solutions to give Canada better games have been floated, such as allowing teams like Uruguay and Canada to join an expanded Six Nations competition or entering a team from the west coast of North America into the annual Super Rugby circuit, but those ideas are likely far fetched.
What’s clear is Canada desperately needs to see a higher level of competition between now and the 2019 World Cup, either domestically or abroad. The only way to improve the level of play and eliminate errors in critical situations is to face those very situations against top teams. Practical, workable solutions are needed. But for now, they appear to be few and far between.