Rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

(french: rugby à XV) is a moderately popular sport in Canada; it is quite strong as a participation sport, particularly in several hotspots like

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

, Atlantic Canada (particularly in

Newfoundland and Labrador Newfoundland and Labrador (; french: Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador; frequently abbreviated as NL) is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region ...

), and

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

but does not attract the same level of spectator support yet, likely because the

CFL The Canadian Football League (CFL; french: Ligue canadienne de football—LCF) is a professional sports league in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football. The league consists of nine teams, each located in a ci ...

's popular brand of

Canadian Football Canadian football () is a team sport, sport played in Canada in which two teams of 12 players each compete for territorial control of a field of play long and wide attempting to advance a pointed oval-shaped ball into the opposing team's sco ...

is still similar to rugby in many ways, whilst also being the dominant football code in the country.

Rugby Canada Rugby Canada is the national governing body for the sport of rugby union in Canada. Rugby Canada was incorporated in 1974, and stems from the Canadian Rugby Football Union, a body established in 1884 that now governs amateur Canadian football a ...

is the administrative body for rugby union in Canada. Every province also has its own union. Canada has around 26,000 seniors and twice as many junior players spread across the country, the leading domestic competitions are the

Americas Rugby Championship The Americas Rugby Championship, often informally called the Americas' Six Nations, was an annual international rugby tournament between six North and South American nations: Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, the United States and Uruguay. Origin ...

, a cross-border regional competition including the United States, Argentina, and Uruguay. The

Rugby Canada National Junior Championship The Rugby Canada National Junior Championship was an amateur rugby union competition in Canada. It only lasted two seasons, 2009 and 2010. The 2009 champion was the Vancouver Wave, and the 2010 championship went to the Newfoundland Rock. The l ...

for under-20 players organised solely within Canada by

, the sports governing body, and the

Canadian Rugby Championship The Canadian Rugby Championship (CRC) (french: Championnat provincial du Canada de rugby à XV) was a Canadian amateur rugby union competition, partially funded by the World Rugby. It was the highest level of men's domestic rugby in Canada. Four ...

, the top level of club rugby in the country. Canada is classified by

World Rugby World Rugby is the world governing body for the sport of rugby union. World Rugby organises the Rugby World Cup every four years, the sport's most recognised and most profitable competition. It also organises a number of other international rug ...

(WR) as a tier two rugby nation. Tier two nations do not have a full-time professional domestic structure in place, but they are considered by WR to be the most promising countries in which to expand the sport. The Canadian national side have competed in every

Rugby World Cup The Rugby World Cup is a men's rugby union tournament contested every four years between the top international teams. The tournament is administered by World Rugby, the sport's international governing body. The winners are awarded the Webb E ...

to date yet have only won one match each tournament, with the exception of the 1991 tournament where they reached the quarterfinals, and 2015 and 2019, where they failed to win a single pool game. Canada's main problems have included the climate, because many grounds are under snow/ice for significant portions of the year, leading to a split season.Jones (1976), p21 Canada has long been a regional power in the sport, albeit in one of the sport's weaker regions. Argentina are the leading team in the Americas, usually followed by Canada, the United States and Uruguay.

Popularity

The sport is played across Canada, with clubs even in places like

Yukon Yukon (; ; formerly called Yukon Territory and also referred to as the Yukon) is the smallest and westernmost of Canada's three territories. It also is the second-least populated province or territory in Canada, with a population of 43,964 as ...

. It is most popular on

Vancouver Island Vancouver Island is an island in the northeastern Pacific Ocean and part of the Canadian Provinces and territories of Canada, province of British Columbia. The island is in length, in width at its widest point, and in total area, while are o ...

and the

Lower Mainland The Lower Mainland is a geographic and cultural region of the mainland coast of British Columbia that generally comprises the regional districts of Metro Vancouver and Fraser Valley. Home to approximately 3.05million people as of the 2021 Canadia ...

on the west coast, and

Newfoundland Newfoundland and Labrador (; french: Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador; frequently abbreviated as NL) is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region ...

, where rugby is considered to be the most popular summer sport. It is also quite popular in Prince Edward Island, where it is played by far more people than Football, but is less popular than Baseball as a summer sport. Rugby in British Columbia has had a strong international flavour, with the

University of British Columbia The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a public university, public research university with campuses near Vancouver and in Kelowna, British Columbia. Established in 1908, it is British Columbia's oldest university. The university ranks a ...

playing a regular series against the

University of California The University of California (UC) is a public land-grant research university system in the U.S. state of California. The system is composed of the campuses at Berkeley, Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, Merced, Riverside, San Diego, San Francisco, ...

, and representative BC sides have made tours to Japan and England. Up until just after the Second World War, rugby union was very popular on the west coast, and the east coast respectively. However, despite increasing interest in the Canadian football strongholds of Quebec and Ontario, rugby union was weakened in its western and eastern strongholds, particularly the latter. Despite its battle for survival, rugby has managed to maintain a presence in all parts of Canada. Rugby in the

Central Provinces The Central Provinces was a province of British India. It comprised British conquests from the Mughals and Marathas in central India, and covered parts of present-day Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra states. Its capital was Nagpur. ...

was reinforced partially by immigration from other Commonwealth Countries. Rugby in Canada has been experiencing a growing popularity. 20,396 fans came out to

BMO Field BMO Field is an outdoor stadium located at Exhibition Place in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, which is home to Toronto FC of Major League Soccer and the Toronto Argonauts of the Canadian Football League. Constructed on the site of the former Exhibit ...

in Toronto in June 2013 to watch Canada take on Ireland, a new attendance record for Canada.

History

There is a considerable overlap between the early history of rugby in Canada, and the origins of

Canadian football Canadian football () is a team sport, sport played in Canada in which two teams of 12 players each compete for territorial control of a field of play long and wide attempting to advance a pointed oval-shaped ball into the opposing team's sco ...

. Early forms of

rugby football Rugby football is the collective name for the team sports of rugby union and rugby league. Canadian football and, to a lesser extent, American football were once considered forms of rugby football, but are seldom now referred to as such. The ...

were being played in Canada from 1823 onwards, in east Canadian towns such as Halifax,

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

and

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

.''The Canadian Encyclopedia'' (1999, ), p2050 Rugby football proper in Canada dates back to the 1860s. Introduction of the game and its early growth is usually credited to settlers from Britain and the British army and navy in

Halifax, Nova Scotia Halifax is the capital and largest municipality of the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, and the largest municipality in Atlantic Canada. As of the 2021 Census, the municipal population was 439,819, with 348,634 people in its urban area. The ...

and

Esquimalt, British Columbia The Township of Esquimalt is a municipality at the southern tip of Vancouver Island, in British Columbia, Canada. It is bordered to the east by the provincial capital, Victoria, to the south by the Strait of Juan de Fuca, to the west by Esquim ...

. In 1864 the first recorded game of rugby in Canada took place in Montreal among artillery men. It is most likely that rugby got its start in British Columbia in the late 1860s or early 1870s when brief mentions of "football" appeared in print. F. Barlow Cumberland and Fred A. Bethune first codified rules for rugby football in Canada, in 1865 at

Trinity College, Toronto Trinity College (occasionally referred to as The University of Trinity College) is a college federated with the University of Toronto, founded in 1851 by Bishop John Strachan. Strachan originally intended Trinity as a university of strong Angli ...

, and the first proper Canadian game of rugby took place in 1865 when officers of an English regiment played local civilians, mainly from

McGill University McGill University (french: link=no, Université McGill) is an English-language public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1821 by royal charter granted by King George IV,Frost, Stanley Brice. ''McGill Universit ...

. Rugby is also an ancestor of

, currently its main competitor. A "running game", resembling rugby, was taken up by the

Montreal Football Club The Montreal Football Club was a Canadian football team based in Montreal, Quebec that played in the Quebec Rugby Football Union from 1883 to 1906 and in the Interprovincial Rugby Football Union from 1907 to 1915. The club was a founding member of ...

in Canada in 1868. By the late 19th century, the game was popular in

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

on the west coast. Early Canadian rugby clubs included the following: * Montreal FC, founded 1868. * Halifax FC, founded 1870. * Winnipeg FC, founded 1879 * Vancouver RFC, founded 1889. The first major figure in the introduction of rugby to Canada was Alfred St. George Hamersley of Marlborough, an England international who had played in the first

Calcutta Cup The Calcutta Cup is the trophy awarded to the winner of the rugby match between England and Scotland played annually in the Six Nations Championship. Like the match itself (England–Scotland), the Calcutta Cup is the oldest trophy contested be ...

match in 1871, and he helped establish the game in

.Bath p64Jones (1976), p18 The game took root there, and as the ''

Canadian Encyclopedia ''The Canadian Encyclopedia'' (TCE; french: L'Encyclopédie canadienne) is the national encyclopedia of Canada, published online by the Toronto-based historical organization Historica Canada, with the support of Canadian Heritage. Available for ...

'' says: :"''Vancouver, which, owing to its favourable climate and strong British tradition, became the game's stronghold.''" The first recorded game in British Columbia was played on

in 1876, between members of the Royal Navy and the Army. It was played regularly after this in

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

by local players and sailors on the British ships stationed at Esquimalt. The first club was formed in 1868. At that time no international agreed set of rules existed and the

Rugby Football Union The Rugby Football Union (RFU) is the Sports governing body, national governing body for rugby union in England. It was founded in 1871, and was the sport's international governing body prior to the formation of what is now known as World Rugby ...

of England would not publish its official set of rules until 1871. Shortly after the game in Montreal, Trinity College, Toronto published the first set of Canadian rugby rules. The Canada RFU was founded in 1882, and administered

- after this, Canadian rugby fell back to a provincial level, taking administrative directions directly from the

in England. Despite such encroachments, rugby remained popular in some parts of Canada, notably British Columbia, Nova Scotia, and Ontario, particularly around

. As Canada's two main languages are English and French, it has long been influenced by not only the Commonwealth, but the French rugby community. As early as 1902, a Canadian XV toured the British Isles. And in 1908, the British Columbia rugby union team travelled to

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

to play the

All Blacks The New Zealand national rugby union team, commonly known as the All Blacks ( mi, Ōpango), represents New Zealand in men's international rugby union, which is considered the country's national sport. The team won the Rugby World Cup in 1987 ...

There was a brief resurgence in the sport, but that was halted with the onset of World War I. From 1914 to 1919, only in British Columbia and Nova Scotia were there the numbers for semi-regular rugby. In most other areas the game was not played on a regular basis. It has been suggested that some kept rugby alive during the period in an effort to boost morale during the war. Following World War I, there was an increase in rugby in Canada, as servicemen rejoined their previous clubs. In 1919, a Canadian Services team, the Canadian Expeditionary Force, took part in an Inter-Services Championship played in Great Britain. The Championship consisted of matches played between six service teams from Australia, Britain, Canada, New Zealand and South Africa, with the final played at Twickenham. The Rugby Union of Canada was formed in 1929, which was followed by a tour of Japan by a Canadian side. During World War II the sport was only played on a limited basis, with most games being played involving mainly members of the Commonwealth Forces. In 1949, there were only three active provincial unions — British Columbia, Ontario and Quebec.

Queen's University RFC Queen's University Belfast Rugby Football Club is the rugby union team of Queen's University Belfast, currently playing in Division 2A of the All-Ireland League. Founded in 1869, it is the most successful and oldest continuous rugby union clu ...

from

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdo ...

, toured British Columbia in 1953. In 1958, the Carling Cup was set up, which was won by

, but which lay dormant between 1959 and 1966. British Columbia retained the cup until

won it in 1971. Canada first broke through into the top rank of rugby nations when it beat a touring

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

side in 1991, and this was followed by an outstanding performance in the

1991 Rugby World Cup The 1991 Rugby World Cup was the second edition of the Rugby World Cup, and was jointly hosted by England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland and France: at the time, the five European countries who participated in the Five Nations Championship. This was ...

, in which they beat

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

and

Fiji Fiji ( , ,; fj, Viti, ; Fiji Hindi: फ़िजी, ''Fijī''), officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists ...

, and were narrowly beaten by

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

, reaching the quarterfinals. In 1992, they compounded their success by beating

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

26–24. Although it was first introduced into eastern Canada, British Columbia has long been seen as the traditional centre of the Canadian game, and although there have often been as many players in

as BC, there has been a steady drift westward of players. This westward drift has ensured that Canadian rugby now has an outlook to the

Pacific Rim The Pacific Rim comprises the lands around the rim of the Pacific Ocean. The ''Pacific Basin'' includes the Pacific Rim and the islands in the Pacific Ocean. The Pacific Rim roughly overlaps with the geologic Pacific Ring of Fire. List of co ...

, rather than one merely fed by a heritage of largescale British emigration.

Rugby and Canadian football

Ottawa and Hamilton Tigers football game 5

Confusingly, in Canada,

has also frequently been referred to as "rugby football",''Rugby football'' in ''

Encyclopedia Canadiana An encyclopedia (American English) or encyclopædia (British English) is a reference work or compendium providing summaries of knowledge either general or special to a particular field or discipline. Encyclopedias are divided into articles ...

'', p110. and a number of national and provincial bodies were called "Rugby Football Unions" or "Rugby Unions", such as the

Ontario Rugby Football Union The Ontario Rugby Football Union (ORFU) was an early amateur Canadian football league comprising teams in the Canadian province of Ontario. The ORFU was founded on Saturday, January 6, 1883 and in 1903 became the first major competition to adopt th ...

Quebec Rugby Football Union The Quebec Rugby Football Union (QRFU) was a football league consisting of teams from Quebec and formed in 1883. Eastern Ontario teams like Ottawa City and Ottawa College joined in 1894. League formation and play The QRFU was formed officially ...

. For example, in the ''

'', the entry ''Rugby Football'' begins "the Canadian development of rugby union or "English rugger" introduced into Canada in the third quarter of the nineteenth century.", but admits later that "the Canadian game is a radical departure from rugby union". Canadian football is in fact a descendant of the rugby code."Rugby Union and Rugby League" in ''Encyclopedia Canadiana'', p113.''Encarta'' (1997) The first documented

gridiron football Gridiron football,"Gridiron football"
''Encyclopædia Britannica''. Ret ...

match was a game played at

University College, University of Toronto University College, popularly referred to as UC, is a constituent college of the University of Toronto, created in 1853 specifically as an institution of higher learning free of religious affiliation. It was the founding member of the university ...

on November 9, 1861. A football club was formed at the university soon afterwards, although its rules of play at this stage are unclear. In 1864, at

, F. Barlow Cumberland and Frederick A. Bethune devised rules based on

. However, modern Canadian football is widely regarded as having originated with a game of rugby played in

, in 1865, when British Army officers played local civilians. The game gradually gained a following, and the

was formed in 1868, the first recorded non-university football club in Canada. This rugby-football soon became popular at Montreal's

. McGill challenged

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

to a game, in 1874. It is through this varsity play that the game now known as

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

entered the United States. Predecessors of the

Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; french: Ligue canadienne de football—LCF) is a professional sports league in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football. The league consists of nine teams, each located in a ci ...

and the present-day governing body

Football Canada Football Canada is the governing body for amateur gridiron football in Canada headquartered in Ottawa, Ontario. Football Canada focuses primarily its own Canadian form of the sport, and is currently the world's only national governing body for C ...

include the Canadian Rugby Football Union (CRFU), established 1882, and the Canadian Rugby Union, established 1892. Representatives from the Montreal (Rugby) Football club (now known as the

Westmount Rugby Club The Westmount Rugby Football Club is a Canadian rugby club based in Westmount, Quebec, Westmount, Quebec. Despite McGill University having a team in 1874, Westmount, which claims to have been established in 1876, is the oldest independent (as ...

), the Toronto Rugby Football Club and from the Hamilton Rugby Football Club had meetings in Toronto and Montreal. It was decided that the union would continue to use the English rugby rules, and at the end of the season the winning club of the Quebec Championship would play the Ontario Champion for the Club Championship of the Dominion. This organization (also known at different times as the Canadian Rugby Union), was the forerunner of the Canadian Football League, as rugby football in Canada evolved into Canadian football. To make matters more confusing the word ''rugby'' continued to be applied to Canadian football. It was not until 1967 that the original CRU finally cleared up this confusion by renaming itself the Canadian Amateur Football Association; it adopted its current name of

in 1986.

International competition

Canada is classified by

(WR) as a tier two rugby nation alongside

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

Samoa Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa; sm, Sāmoa, and until 1997 known as Western Samoa, is a Polynesian island country consisting of two main islands (Savai'i and Upolu); two smaller, inhabited islands (Manono Island, Manono an ...

Tonga Tonga (, ; ), officially the Kingdom of Tonga ( to, Puleʻanga Fakatuʻi ʻo Tonga), is a Polynesian country and archipelago. The country has 171 islands – of which 45 are inhabited. Its total surface area is about , scattered over in ...

and the

USA The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

(there are ten tier one rugby nations). In terms of international rugby, Canada has not been so isolated, since European sides touring Australia and New Zealand, and vice versa, would frequently stop off there, in the days before proper long distance jet flight. As early as 1905,

Dave Gallaher David Gallaher (30October 1873 – 4October 1917) was an Irish-born New Zealand rugby union footballer best remembered as the captain of the "Original All Blacks"—the 1905–06 New Zealand national team, the first representative New Zealand ...

's "Originals" from New Zealand played there, and a long line of

sides have played there.

Rugby World Cup

The Canadian national team have competed in every world cup since the first tournament held in 1987. The team's best result came during the 1991 tournament, held in the United Kingdom, when they reached the quarter finals beating out

and

before narrowly losing 19–13 to France in the pool stage then New Zealand in the quarter final. Canada managed only one win in the

1987 Rugby World Cup The 1987 Rugby World Cup was the first Rugby World Cup. It was co-hosted by New Zealand and Australia – New Zealand hosted 21 matches (17 pool stage matches, two quarter-finals, the third-place play-off and the final) while Australia hosted 11 ...

(against Tonga). They also managed only a single win in

1995 Rugby World Cup The 1995 Rugby World Cup was the third Rugby World Cup. It was hosted and won by South Africa, and was the first Rugby World Cup in which every match was held in one country. The World Cup was the first major sporting event to take place in Sou ...

(against Romania)

1999 Rugby World Cup The 1999 Rugby World Cup was the fourth Rugby World Cup, the quadrennial international rugby union championship. It was principally hosted by Wales, and was won by Australia. This was the first Rugby World Cup to be held in the sport's professi ...

(against Namibia) and the

2003 Rugby World Cup The 2003 Rugby World Cup was the fifth Rugby World Cup. Originally planned to be hosted by India, all games were shifted to Australia following a contractual dispute over ground signage rights between the Indian Rugby Union and Rugby World Cup ...

(against Tonga). Canada could only manage a draw in the

2007 Rugby World Cup The 2007 Rugby World Cup was the sixth Rugby World Cup, a quadrennial international rugby union competition inaugurated in 1987. Twenty nations competed for the Webb Ellis Cup in the tournament, which was hosted by France from 7 September to 2 ...

(against Japan), but in the

2011 Rugby World Cup The 2011 Rugby World Cup was the seventh Rugby World Cup, a quadrennial international rugby union competition inaugurated in 1987. The International Rugby Board (IRB) selected New Zealand as the host country in preference to Japan and South Af ...

managed a win (against Tonga) and a draw (against Japan).

Churchill Cup

The

Churchill Cup The Churchill Cup was an annual rugby union tournament, held in June, contested by representative men's (and formerly women's) teams from Canada, England, the United States, and other invited teams (originally one and later three) from a wide arr ...

was a tournament conducted from 2003 through 2011, intended to help build depth in rugby in Canada and the United States, and an opportunity to develop new players for the England national team. The New Zealand Māori also competed in most of the tournament's editions. Although Canada was one of the three regular teams in the Churchill Cup, they never made the final until 2010, losing out to the

England Saxons England A is England's men's second national rugby union team. The team has previously been known by a number of names, such as England B, Emerging England and, most recently, England Saxons. England A play a key role in the development of emer ...

(that country's "A" national side). They also lost to England Saxons in the final of the last Churchill Cup in 2011. Rugby Canada,

USA Rugby USA Rugby (officially the United States of America Rugby Football Union, Ltd.) is the national governing body for the sport of rugby union in the United States. Its role is to achieve and maintain “high levels of quality in all aspects of rugb ...

, and the

of England all agreed to end the Churchill Cup after the 2011 edition, as both Canada and the USA will be included in WR's international Test schedule starting in 2012.

Super Powers Cup

In 2004 and 2005 Canada replaced China in the Super Powers Cup. In 2005 Canada won the tournament beating Japan 15–10. The competition was discontinued in 2005 but representatives of Canada, USA, Russia and Japan have met to discuss reviving the competition, starting in November 2010.

Americas Rugby Championship

Rugby Canada participated in the

, an annual competition established by WR and designed to help grow the sport in Canada and the USA. It was the successor to the

North America 4 North America 4, also known as IRB North America 4, was a North American rugby union competition launched in 2006. The competition was contested between two newly formed representative teams from each of Canada and the United States. The competi ...

, established in 2006 for the same purpose. The NA4 involved four regionally-based teams, two each from Canada and the USA. The ARC, launched in 2009, includes four Canadian teams: *

BC Bears The British Columbia Bears (formerly Pacific Tyee) are the senior men's representative rugby team for British Columbia. They were founded in 2009 to compete in the Americas Rugby Championship against other representative teams from Canada, Argenti ...

, representing

Prairie Wolf Pack The Prairie Wolf Pack is a Canadian rugby union team representing the Prairies region in the Canadian Rugby Championship. The Wolf Pack's inaugural season includes a home game at the Calgary Rugby Park against The Rock and away games at the BC ...

, representing the

Prairie Provinces The Canadian Prairies (usually referred to as simply the Prairies in Canada) is a region in Western Canada. It includes the Canadian portion of the Great Plains and the Prairie Provinces, namely Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba. These provin ...

Ontario Blues The Ontario Blues are the senior men's representative rugby team for Ontario. They were founded in 2009 to compete in the Americas Rugby Championship against other representative teams from Canada, Argentina, and the United States. In their inaugu ...

, representing

Atlantic Rock Atlantic Rock, also known as The Rock, are a Canadian rugby union team based in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador. The team plays in the Canadian Rugby Championship (CRC) and is intended to draw most of its players from the rugby unions of C ...

, representing

Atlantic Canada Atlantic Canada, also called the Atlantic provinces (french: provinces de l'Atlantique), is the region of Eastern Canada comprising the provinces located on the Atlantic coast, excluding Quebec. The four provinces are New Brunswick, Newfoundlan ...

plus

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

These teams were joined by the Argentina Jaguars, which have now become the country's "A" (second-level) national team, and a "USA Select XV", an "A" national team in all but name. When the ARC was established, Rugby Canada decided to scrap its former semi-professional national competition, the

Rugby Canada Super League The Rugby Canada Super League (RCSL or Super League) was a national, semi-professional rugby union competition in Canada. The league represented the second level of domestic rugby union in Canada, and the highest level wholly indigenous to Canada ...

Pacific Nations Cup

Starting in

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...

, Canada (along with the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

) has joined the

Pacific Nations Cup The Pacific Nations Cup is an international rugby union competition held between three Pacific states: Fiji, Samoa and Tonga. The 2019 edition of the tournament will also include the national teams of Canada, Japan and United States. First held ...

. The tournament is intended to strengthen the Tier 2 rugby nations along the

by providing competitive test matches in a tournament format.

Domestic competitions

Canadian Rugby Championship

The Canadian Rugby Championship (CRC) is an amateur rugby union league located in Canada, partially funded by

. It is the highest level of domestic rugby in Canada. It has four representative teams from regions across Canada, competing for the

MacTier Cup The MacTier Cup is the name of the championship for the top senior men's rugby league in Canada. Originally awarded to the champion of the Rugby Canada Super League (RCSL), the MacTier Cup was established in 1998 along with the RCSL. The first MacT ...

. The regular season goes from August to September, and there is no post-season. The CRC was started in 2009 by

. The league continues to grow every year, with more games being added to the schedule, and the format having changed in each of its first three years, making the league more competitive, and a prospect of becoming professional one day.

Canadian Direct Insurance Premier League

The Canadian Direct Insurance Premier League (also known as the CDI Premier League) is a provincial

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

competition contested by eight clubs in

, Canada. The CDI Premier League is organized by the

British Columbia Rugby Union The British Columbia Rugby Union (BCRU) is the provincial administrative body for rugby union in British Columbia, Canada. The BCRU consists of nine sub-unions and 65 clubs. It was originally organized in New Westminster in 1889 where Alfred St. G ...

. The Canadian Direct Insurance Premier League runs from January to April each year. The teams that play in the CDI Premier League compete in the Lower Mainland Spray League and the Vancouver Island Elite League from September to December. The teams compete for the Rounsefell Cup. The Rounsefell Cup was first awarded to

Vancouver Rowing Club Vancouver Rowing Club (VRC) is a rowing club in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Originally formed in 1886 as the Vancouver Boating Club, the first clubhouse was built a year later. In 1890 one of the city's early athletic rivalries began whe ...

in 1922, and has been competed for annually ever since.

Major League Rugby (2017– )

In November 2015, the Professional Rugby Organization (

PRO Rugby Pro is an abbreviation meaning "professional". Pro, PRO or variants thereof may also refer to: People * Miguel Pro (1891–1927), Mexican priest * Pro Hart (1928–2006), Australian painter * Mlungisi Mdluli (born 1980), South African retired ...

) announced a USA Rugby and World Rugby-sanctioned professional rugby championship. Six teams in "major metropolitan areas in the US Northeast, the Rocky Mountains and California" will play at medium-size venues, with a 10-match schedule from April to July 2016. The league was expected to include Canadian teams upon expansion in 2017, but has since folded. In 2018, the top-level competition of rugby in the United States became

Major League Rugby Major League Rugby (MLR or USMLR) is a professional rugby union competition and the top-level championship for clubs in North America. In the 2022 season it was contested by thirteen teams: twelve from the United States and one from Canada. Off ...

, and the

Toronto Arrows Toronto Arrows R.F.C. is a rugby union club based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, that plays in Major League Rugby. The Arrows team is an independent off-shoot of the Ontario Blues provincial programme and is funded by a group of private investors ...

were announced to join in the 2019 season.

Age Grade Rugby

The Junior Inter-Provincial Championship was started in 1976, and in 1982, Canada started up a junior national team, which played Welsh Schoolboys in 1983 and 1986, and England Colts in 1985. Since 2009, the top age-grade competition in the country is the

, involving under-20 teams. It was established as a replacement for the Super League, and most of the clubs that fielded teams in that league now send under-20 teams to the National Junior Championship.

Women's Rugby in Canada

In 1983, the Western Canada Women's Championship was established. By 1999, thirty women's clubs were registered in Canada.

External links

Rugby Canada site

Rugby in Canada Dot Com

''Rugby''
on the ''

References

* Bath, Richard (ed.) ''The Complete Book of Rugby'' (Seven Oaks Ltd, 1997 ) * ''The Canadian Encyclopedia'' (1999, ) * "Canadian Football", in ''Microsoft(R)

Encarta ''Microsoft Encarta'' is a discontinued digital multimedia encyclopedia published by Microsoft from 1993 to 2009. Originally sold on CD-ROM or DVD, it was also available on the World Wide Web via an annual subscription, although later articles ...

(R) 97 Encyclopedia'' (

CD-ROM A CD-ROM (, compact disc read-only memory) is a type of read-only memory consisting of a pre-pressed optical compact disc that contains data. Computers can read—but not write or erase—CD-ROMs. Some CDs, called enhanced CDs, hold both comput ...

) 1993–1996

Microsoft Corporation Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational corporation, multinational technology company, technology corporation producing Software, computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at th ...

. * ** "Rugby football" (NB - this article is on

) ** "Rugby Union and Rugby League" * Jones, ''Encyclopedia of Rugby Football''. (1966) * Jones, J.R. ''Encyclopedia of Rugby Union Football'' (Robert Hale, London, 1976 ) * {{DEFAULTSORT:Rugby Union In Canada

Popularity

History

Rugby and Canadian football

International competition

Rugby World Cup

Churchill Cup

Super Powers Cup

Americas Rugby Championship

Pacific Nations Cup

Domestic competitions

Canadian Rugby Championship

Canadian Direct Insurance Premier League

Major League Rugby (2017– )

Age Grade Rugby

Women's Rugby in Canada

See also

External links

References