Rugby Canada reorganizes centralized player pool with emphasis on 15s game
TORONTO — Rugby Canada is reorganizing its resources, opting for one centralized pool of men’s players rather than having separate 15s and sevens training squads.
Come September, Rugby Canada will centralize a group of 40 to 50 men under contract “to maximize the development of Canada’s men’s national team players.”
Canada is currently ranked 22nd in the World Rugby 15s rankings. The Canadian men’s sevens squad, meanwhile, finished ninth on the 2017-18 HSBC World Sevens Series.
The two teams essentially have trained apart in Langford, B.C., with separate coaches — with some 17 carded athletes in the sevens squad and up to 30 non-carded players in the 15s — although there has been some movement between the two. Canada’s top 15s talent plays professionally overseas.