The Canada national rugby league team represents

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

in international

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 11 ...

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 Canadian football () is a 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 scoring area ( ...

. It was not until the late 1980s that rugby league was re-introduced to

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 The Adirondack Mountains (; a-də-RÄN-dak) form a massif in northeastern New York with boundaries that correspond roughly to those of Adirondack Park. They cover about 5,000 square miles (13,000 km2). The mountains form a roughly circular d ...

club. 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 The Rugby League World Sevens, usually referred to as the World Sevens and sometimes as the World Cup Sevens, was a pre-season rugby league sevens tournament made up over the years primarily of New South Wales Rugby League (NSWRL), Australian Ru ...

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

In 2010, a new governing body,

Canada Rugby League Canada Rugby League (CRL) (french: Rugby à XIII du Canada) is the governing body for the sport of rugby league football in Canada. Founded in 2010, the CRL organizes the Canada national rugby league team and supports the development of the game t ...

, was formed. Their first comeback game was in 2010 in the War at the Shore tournament, where they played

New England Immortals The New England Immortals was the first All-Star representative Rugby League Football team made up of the top American players from all Rugby League teams in the six New England states, and those US athletes who come from the region. Club Motto: ...

, a New England representative team, and the New York Knights AMNRL club team, losing both games. The team's international comeback was later in the year in September in the inaugural Colonial Cup. Later that year they competed in the

Rugby League Atlantic Cup The Jacksonville Axemen are a semi-professional rugby league team based in Jacksonville, Florida, U.S. They currently play in the USA Rugby League (USARL). They play their home games at the North Practice Soccer Fields at the University of North ...

Jacksonville, Florida Jacksonville is a city located on the Atlantic coast of northeast Florida, the most populous city proper in the state and is the List of United States cities by area, largest city by area in the contiguous United States as of 2020. It is the co ...

. 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 South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

, in a warm up game before their 2013 World Cup qualifiers campaign. In 2014, Stuart Donlan was appointed as head coach. 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.

Aaron Zimmerle According to Abrahamic religions, Aaron ''′aharon'', ar, هارون, Hārūn, Ancient Greek, Greek (Septuagint): wikt:Ἀαρών, Ἀαρών; often called Aaron the priest ()., group="note" ( or ; ''’Ahărōn'') was a prophet, a high p ...

, the head coach of the

Tweed Heads Seagulls The Tweed Heads Seagulls, often referred to simply as Tweed or Seagulls or Tweed Seagulls, is a rugby league club based in Tweed Heads, New South Wales. It is one of only two non-Queensland teams to play in the Queensland Cup, along with th ...

, took over the main coaching role in 2015 in their 2017 World Cup qualifying campaign. 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. Ryley Jacks 8. Charles Curran 9. Rhys Jacks 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. The following tournaments is a list of notable international competitions that Canada has been competing in since their existence in 1987.

World Cup

Colonial Cup

Caribbean Carnival Cup

*The Caribbean Carnival Cup is annual series that has been played between Canada and

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...

since 2011.

Atlantic Cup

Rankings

References

External links

Canada Rugby League Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Canada National Rugby League Team National rugby league teams Canadian rugby league teams