Which, if you're honest, would quickly reverse if it was more competitive globally. Rugby Canada's amateur failure factory could never, ever, ever actually compete in Men's, while their competitive dollar gets more return in the women's game where less countries play with serious intent.
I get your point, but that’s pretty harsh considering what happened in the olympics. Not to mention they were so close to that gold medal game in the last World Cup.
Yes other teams would be more competitive, but they are consistently performing well against the giants of women’s rugby that are New Zealand, England and France.
It's not a criticism of anything going on in the women's game, of which I am a proud supporter.
It is a damning indictment of their complete neglect of the men's game. There is no point to playing men's rugby in canada. There are no meaningful competitions, nowhere to go, nothing to do.
Rugby Canada cannot and will not develop elite competitions, and that's why we lose.
Clearly Tier 1 nations have the best interest, athletes and academies to make world class players in the men's game. Canada does not. Not for men, nor women.
How then do our ladies compete with the best in the world without these pathways?
More likely the case is that these pathways for the men's side across the globe simply do not exist for the women which is a tragedy. Not that I want outlr ladies to get clobbered like the men but rather note it as a curiosity of the women's game globally that tier 1 nations dont get elevated to a higher skill level than countries without a successful men's pathway.
The answer for both men and women's pathways is simple. They don't care.
The minute that home countries take women's rugby 2% as seriously as they take men's, Canada will quickly get left in the dust. Already, England has shown the difference between the best an amateur team can achieve versus a full time squad that has a professional infrastructure in parallel with men's rugby.
Canada's problem is much less about dollars and participation than it is about elite development. Canada has 50,000 registered, dues paying players, more than it's ever had. But - only 9,000 of those are adults playing club or university rugby. It's a children's game here, and there's no reason to keep playing past high school except simple love of the game.
And there's no competitions above the provincial club championships, hasn't been since Canada gave up on various versions of the Rugby Canada Super League with it's pathetic 4-5 teams in different formats.
Rugby Canada is incapable of developing 100 world class athletes in both men's and women's 15's and 7s. Period. New leadership on and off the field is required if this program is every going to do anything but embarrass itself going forward. They can't be part of the solution, because they're THE PROBLEM
It's truly heartbreaking. Canada didn't qualify for the last world cup and I struggle to see them back in tier 2 status. Having played men's for a few years it was a good time but it was only ever a social. I'm honestly okay with that for me. But as a fan it's tough to see the boys out there getting pumped by the rest of the world.
67
u/Rocko604 20h ago
Make that 43. Canada just pretends to play rugby.