ROMANIA 35 CANADA 27
Canada head coach Kingsley Jones of Sooke has given numerous rugby hopefuls a chance to raise their hands this year as he charts a path to 2027 World Cup qualifying, which begins next year. The pre-process concluded Saturday with a rugged 35-27 loss to Romania in Bucharest as Rhys James, Jesse Kilgour and Sam Miller, all from the Langford-based Pacific Pride Under-23 development program, earned their first caps for Canada.
“Lots of learnings for us, of course, things we can do better to close out Test matches. We’ll move forward, take the learnings, and look forward to next year’s Rugby World Cup qualification,” Jones said in a statement.
“It was a real tough test. It was what we expected. Proud of my players in terms of their application to a Test match. A tough stadium, tough physicality, and I thought they did really well.”
As well as bringing debutants James, Kilgour and Miller into the match in the second half, former Welsh international Jones gave Brock Gallagher and James Stockwood their first starts for Canada.
Jones is cognizant that the Canadian men’s soccer team played 45 players in the two-year process to qualify for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar and the men’s national basketball team used 33 players in the qualification process to get to the 2024 Paris Olympics, which included a regional round victory in 2022 over Argentina at Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre.
“We talk about depth a lot. We are going to need 50-plus players to get us there to 2027,” Jones told the Times Colonist. “We need to be three players deep at every position, at minimum. It’s a tough challenge but we are excited for that challenge.”
Putting emerging young players in Test situations ahead of next year’s World Cup qualifying matches was a big part of the 2024 Test season. Things looked promising when Canada beat Romania 35-22 in July in Ottawa. But six consecutive Test losses since then, capped by Saturday’s loss to No. 20 Romania in Bucharest, have dampened the outlook. In the Pacific Nations Cup, Canada lost 28-15 to now world No. 16 USA, 55-28 to No. 14 Japan and 30-17 to No. 18 Tonga. Canada also lost last weekend to No. 21 Chile 44-14 in Bucharest and 73-12 in July to undermanned No. 6 Scotland in Ottawa.
The U.S., Chile, Tonga and Romania are in the range of teams world No. 22 Canada will need to beat to get back into the World Cup in 2027 at Australia after missing the last planetary showcase in 2023 in France. Canada had qualified for the previous nine World Cups.
SCRUM NOTES : The Langford-based Canadian women’s sevens team will play for the first time today, in Portland, since winning the silver medal at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games. Four players from the Olympic team — including University of Victoria Vikes player Carissa Norsten and Vikes product Shalaya Valenzuela — will be playing in the Portland PR7s All-Star Tournament along with Piper Logan and Asia Hogan-Rochester. UVic players Larah Wright and Maya Addai are on the Canadian roster along with UVic graduate and 2020 Tokyo Olympian Pamphinette Buisa.
“The PR7s All-Star Tournament will help us kick-off the 2025 season, giving our program an opportunity to take on some quality competition and see some new player combinations ahead of the start of the 2026 HSBC SVNS series,” Canada coach Jocelyn Barrieau said in a statement.
Also taking part in the Premier Rugby Sevens Tournament at Providence Park will be the Paris Olympics bronze medallist U.S. team.
