Canada national rugby league team

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Canada
Badge of Canada team
Team information
NicknameWolverines
Governing bodyCanada Rugby League
RegionAmericas
Head coachAaron Zimmerle
CaptainSkyler Dumas
Home stadiumLamport Stadium
IRL ranking21st
Uniforms
First colours
Second colours
Team results
First international
 Canada 23–10 United States 
(1987)
Biggest win
 Canada 52–14 United States 
(2014)
Biggest defeat
England Lions 68–4 Canada 
(2012)

The Canada national rugby league team represents Canada in international rugby league football tournaments.

History[]

1987–2000: Origins[]

Rugby league was first introduced to Canada in the 1900s but was quickly outlawed by Rugby Union officials and thus became Canadian Football. It was not until the late 1980s that rugby league was re-introduced to Canada at an amateur level, when a short-lived 4-team domestic competition, known as the Tri-Counties Rugby League, was established. Four teams competed in its first year, three in Canada and one in the U.S., the New York-based Adirondacks club.[1]

The Canadian national team played their first game in 1987 against the USA. They then played sporadically throughout the 1990s and participated in the 1995 and '96 Rugby League World Sevens and Rugby League Emerging Nations World Cup in 2000. Following the 2000 Emerging Nations World Cup, the Canadian Rugby League Federation folded. As a result, the national team was disbanded and the sport remained dormant for 10 years.

2010 onwards: Revival[]

The briefly used "Mounties" 2010 logo

In 2010, a new governing body, Canada Rugby League, was formed. Their first comeback game was in 2010 in the War at the Shore tournament, where they played New England Immortals, a New England representative team, and the New York Knights AMNRL club team, losing both games.[2] The team's international comeback was later in the year in September in the inaugural Colonial Cup.[3] Later that year they competed in the Rugby League Atlantic Cup in Jacksonville, Florida.

Canada's first win since they were reformed came the following year in 2011 against Jamaica. They collected their second win in September, against the US in the second game of the Colonial Cup. However, due to an earlier loss to the US and the resulting aggregate scores, Canada was unable to win the Cup. Canada's international season finished up with a defeat against South Africa, in a warm up game before their 2013 World Cup qualifiers campaign.

In 2014, Stuart Donlan was appointed as head coach.[4] Donlan's first game was the 2014 Colonial Cup's only fixture. He coached Canada to a famous victory which made them the Colonial Cup champions for the very first time.[5] , the head coach of the Tweed Heads Seagulls, took over the main coaching role in 2015 in their 2017 World Cup qualifying campaign.[6]

After failing to qualify for the 2017 World Cup, the Canada Rugby League Board appointed Benjamin Fleming as coach on a three-year deal. Canada Rugby League Association Vice President David Graham said "the board's decision to appoint Fleming as Head Coach was based on the hard work and passion he has shown since returning to the association last year."

Current squad[]

1. Andrew Giguere

2. Ethan Langs

3. Michael Mastroianni

4. Emil Borggren

5. Tony Felix

6. Matt Calvert

7. Brad Austin

8. Charles Curran

9. James Robertson

10. Dean Parker

11. Skyler Dumas

12. Dominic Witschi

13. Antoine Blanc

14. Kyle Koivisto

15. Eric Moyer

17. James Gwatkin

18. Tyler Doran

19. Mike Gallagher

21. Travis Depasquale

22. Jordon Henry

Competitive Record[]

International results[]

Below is the head to head record of the Canadian national XIII side up to date as of 25 April 2021.[7][8]

Against First Played Played Won Lost Drawn % Won last Played For Against Diff
 Bosnia and Herzegovina 2019 1 1 0 0 100% 2018 78 2 +76
 Chile 2018 1 1 0 0 100% 2018 62 12 +50
 England Lionhearts 2012 2 0 2 0 0% 2014 16 102 –86
 Fiji 2016 1 0 1 0 0% 2016 12 26 –14
 France 1995 1 0 1 0 0% 1995 32 72 –40
 Italy 2000 1 0 1 0 0% 2000 6 66 –60
 Jamaica 2010 9 5 3 1 55.56% 2018 210 174 +36
 Japan 1999 2 1 1 0 50% 2000 28 26 +2
 Lebanon 2012 1 1 0 0 100% 2012 36 18 +18
 Serbia 2019 1 0 1 0 0% 2019 8 36 –28
 South Africa 2011 1 0 1 0 0% 2011 22 36 –14
 United States 1993 24 5 19 0 20.83% 2017 402 756 –354
Total 1993 45 14 30 1 31.11% 2019 834 1324 –490

The following tournaments is a list of notable international competitions that Canada has been competing in since their existence in 1987.

World Cup[]

World Cup Record
Year Round Position Pld Win Draw Loss
France 1954 Did not enter
Australia 1957
England 1960
Australia New Zealand 1968
England 1970
France 1972
United Nations 1975
Australia New Zealand 1977
United Nations 1985–88
United Nations 1989–92
England 1995
United Kingdom Ireland France 2000 Did not qualify
Australia 2008
England Wales 2013
Australia New Zealand Papua New Guinea 2017
England 2021
United States Canada 2025 Qualified

Colonial Cup[]

Colonial Cup record
Year Round Position GP W L D
Canada 2010 Second place 2/2 1 0 1 0
Canada United States 2011 Second place 2/2 2 1 1 0
United States Canada 2012 Second place 2/2 2 0 2 0
Canada United States 2013 Second place 2/2 4 1 3 0
Canada 2014 Champions 1/2 1 1 0 0
United States 2015 Champions 1/2 3 2 1 0
Total 2 Titles 6/6 13 5 8 0

Caribbean Carnival Cup[]

  • The Caribbean Carnival Cup is annual series that has been played between Canada and Jamaica since 2011.
Year Round Position GP W L D
Canada Champions 1/2 1 1 0 0
Canada Champions 1/2 1 1 0 0
Canada Champions 1/2 1 1 0 0
Canada Champions 1/2 1 1 0 0
Total 4 Titles 4/4 4 4 0 0

Atlantic Cup[]

Atlantic Cup record
Year Round Position GP W L D
United States 2009 Not Invited
United States 2010 Second place 2/3 2 1 1 0
Total 0 Titles 1/2 2 1 1 0

Rankings[]

Official Men's Rankings as of December 2021
Rank Change* Team Pts%
1 Steady  New Zealand 100.00%
2 Increase 1  England 79%
3 Increase 1  Tonga 69%
4 Decrease 2  Australia 60%
5 Increase 1  Papua New Guinea 34%
6 Decrease 1  Fiji 30%
7 Increase 1  France 21%
8 Decrease 1  Samoa 19%
9 Increase 6  Serbia 18%
10 Increase 1  Greece 15%
11 Decrease 2  Scotland 13%
12 Steady  Ireland 12%
13 Decrease 3  Lebanon 10%
14 Increase 11  Netherlands 10%
15 Increase 1  Malta 9.00%
16 Decrease 3  Italy 8.00%
17 Increase 5  Czech Republic 8.00%
18 Increase 2  Jamaica 7.00%
19 Increase 5  Turkey 7.00%
20 Decrease 3  Norway 6.04%
21 Decrease 2  Poland 6.03%
22 Increase 1  Cook Islands 6.02%
23 Decrease 9  Wales 6.00%
24 Decrease 6  United States 5.00%
25 Increase 14  Ukraine 4.29%
26 New entry  Philippines 4%
27 Increase 1  Nigeria 3.81%
28 Decrease 2  Spain 3.61%
29 Increase 2  Germany 3.52%
30 Decrease 9  Hungary 2.86%
31 Increase 2  Ghana 2.85%
32 Decrease 2  Sweden 2.80%
33 Increase 1  Morocco 2.70%
34 Increase 4  Cameroon 1.79%
35 Increase 2  Russia 1.72%
36 Decrease 9  Canada 1.66%
37 Decrease 8  Solomon Islands 1.61%
38 Decrease 2  South Africa 1.31%
39 Increase 7  Bulgaria 1.21%
40 Decrease 5  Vanuatu 1.06%
41 Increase 1  Belgium 1.04
42 Decrease 1  Brazil 1.03%
43 Decrease 11  Chile 1.02%
44 New entry  Bosnia and Herzegovina 1.00%
45 Decrease 5  Colombia 0.50%
46 Decrease 3  Denmark 0.10%
47 Decrease 2  Latvia 0.05%
*Change from November 2019

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 1 January 2011. Retrieved 26 January 2011.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  2. ^ Lester, Jamie (5 April 2010). "Canadian team to play in AMNRL 'War at the Shore'". rleague.com. Archived from the original on 9 April 2010. Retrieved 18 September 2010.
  3. ^ O'Neill, Matthew (16 August 2010). "Canada to host USA in inaugural Colonial Cup". rleague.com. Archived from the original on 20 August 2010. Retrieved 18 September 2010.
  4. ^ "Stuart Donlan named head coach of Canada Wolverines". Archived from the original on 24 May 2014. Retrieved 15 June 2014.
  5. ^ http://www.rugbyleagueplanet.com/rugby-league-nations/91-rugby-league-test-match-or-international-game/1853-canada-52-smack-usa-14-in-rugby-league-international
  6. ^ "Canada announces Aaron Zimmerle as head coach for Qualifiers". CRL. 11 September 2015. Archived from the original on 19 September 2015. Retrieved 12 September 2015.
  7. ^ "Head to Head". Rugby League Project. Retrieved 27 December 2020.
  8. ^ "PAST RESULTS". Canada rugby league. Retrieved 25 April 2021.

External links[]

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