{"id":324070,"date":"2025-12-04T04:04:11","date_gmt":"2025-12-04T04:04:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/324070\/"},"modified":"2025-12-04T04:04:11","modified_gmt":"2025-12-04T04:04:11","slug":"canada-coach-pleased-with-rugby-world-cup-draw-outcome","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/324070\/","title":{"rendered":"Canada coach pleased with Rugby World Cup draw outcome"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

The Canadian team sings its national anthem ahead of its Rugby World Cup Pool B game at Oita Stadium against New Zealand in Oita, Japan, Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2019.Aaron Favila\/The Associated Press<\/p>\n

While big challenges await Canada at the 2027 Rugby World Cup in Australia, coach Stephen Meehan is excited about his team\u2019s draw.<\/p>\n

The Canadian men, ranked 25th in the world, will face No. 6 Argentina, No. 8 Fiji and No. 15 Spain in Pool C.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs the names were drawn out of the buckets this morning, I wasn\u2019t unhappy about any of it. I thought it was great,\u201d said Meehan. \u201cIt\u2019s something to really look forward to.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll those teams are running rugby teams \u2026 That\u2019s the brand of rugby I really love and what most people want to see,\u201d the Australian added. \u201cI think that\u2019s a particularly exciting pool, an exciting challenge for us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wednesday\u2019s draw in Sydney also paired the host Wallabies, ranked seventh in the world, with No. 2 New Zealand in Pool A. The two rivals have never faced each other in pool play before.<\/p>\n

As the lowest-ranked side in the expanded 24-team tournament, the Canadian men were always going to get a tough draw. Still, it\u2019s safe to say it could have been worse.<\/p>\n

In Argentina, Canada drew the lowest-ranked side in Pot No. 1, albeit one that defeated the British and Irish Lions 28-24 in June in Dublin and the All Blacks 29-23 in August in Buenos Aires. Fiji was the second-highest-ranked side in Pot 2 while Spain was third-highest in Pot 3. <\/p>\n

Based on the rankings, a worst-case scenario would have seen Canada draw defending champion South Africa (ranked No. 1), No. 7 Australia and No. 13 Georgia.<\/p>\n

But Pool C still promises to be a tough neighbourhood with Argentina and Fiji both combining physicality and flair. <\/p>\n

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Canada men’s rugby coach Stephen Meehan, right, is seen in at Clarke Stadium in Edmonton this past July, preparing his team for an international test match against Belgium.HO\/The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

Canada hasn\u2019t faced Argentina\u2019s full test side since a 22-15 loss in Calgary in 2005, but it has dropped all six meetings since against the second-string Argentina XV side. Fiji thumped Canada 63-10 when they met in September in Pacific Nations Cup play in Commerce City, Colo.<\/p>\n

The Canadians will target Spain at the tournament, having pushed the European side to the limit in a 24-23 loss in June in Edmonton, a game decided on a last-second penalty kick.<\/p>\n

The expanded tournament comes with a new format featuring six groups of four teams. The top two from each pool plus the four best third-place finishers move on to the knockout rounds, starting with the new round of 16.<\/p>\n

The Canadian men, who failed to qualify in 2023, will hope to snap a 10-game winless run (0-9-1) at the tournament since a 25-20 victory over Tonga in 2011. Canada has only once gotten out of the pool stage, in 1991, when it lost 29-13 to the All Blacks in the quarter-final.<\/p>\n

The 2027 World Cup is scheduled to run Oct. 1 to Nov. 13 in Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne, Newcastle, Perth, Sydney and Townsville. The host Wallabies will feature in the tournament opener in Perth, with the full schedule slated for release Feb. 3.<\/p>\n

With almost two years before the tournament kicks off, Meehan has time to prepare, which is welcome given he has yet to be able to assemble his full roster since taking over in April.<\/p>\n

\u201cI expect there to be more competition for spots in our squad, which will make us even more competitive,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The contraction of U.S.-based Major League Rugby from 11 to six teams is a concern, however.<\/p>\n

There were some 46 Canadians playing in MLR last season. That number is expected to plummet with fewer teams and new roster rules designating Canadians as foreign players.<\/p>\n

Meehan is trying to use his extensive Rolodex to help Canadians in need of a club and believes short-term pain may lead to long-term gain.<\/p>\n

Rugby Canada will likely launch a fundraising campaign to help finance the team\u2019s preparations, as it did with the women ahead of their World Cup. The \u201cMission: Win Rugby World Cup 2025\u201d campaign exceeded its goal, bringing in just over $1 million.<\/p>\n

The money, which was added to $2.6 million from Rugby Canada, made up the shortfall in Canada coach Kevin Rouet\u2019s preparation plan. The second-ranked Canadian women made it to the Sept. 27 final, losing 33-13 to top-ranked England at Twickenham\u2019s Allianz Stadium.<\/p>\n

Meehan expects to play 10 test matches in 2026, between the Pacific Nations Cup and the new World Rugby Nations Cup. He also hopes to play an MLR team in advance of those internationals, to give Canadian-based players a game.<\/p>\n

Canada, which missed out in 2023 after losing two-legged qualifying series to the U.S. (59-50 on aggregate) and Chile (54-56), qualified this time via the Pacific Nations Cup.<\/p>\n

Meehan said the Canadian players are \u201cincredibly motivated,\u201d with some who missed out in 2023 still feeling \u201ca bit of hurt there.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat will matter now is what they do when no one\u2019s watching,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Canada\u2019s all-time World Cup record is 7-23-2, with the other wins coming in 2003 (24-7 over Tonga), 1999 (72-11 over Namibia), 1995 (34-3 over Romania), 1991 (13-3 over Fiji and 19-11 over Romania) and 1987 (37-4 over Tonga).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: The Canadian team sings its national anthem ahead of its Rugby World Cup…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":324071,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[901,888,902,879,877,903,49,48,876,895,896,891,878,875,46,549,295,894,887,914,880,881,893,889,890,884,904,885,909,910,44,912,907,911,905,908,882,898,899,714,897,906,865,61,900,892,886,883,913],"class_list":["post-324070","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-canada","tag-alberta","tag-arts-news","tag-bc","tag-breaking-news","tag-breaking-news-video","tag-british-columbia","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canada-news","tag-canada-sports","tag-canada-sports-news","tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","tag-canadian-breaking-news","tag-canadian-news","tag-economy","tag-education","tag-environment","tag-federal-government","tag-foreign-news","tag-globe-and-mail","tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","tag-government","tag-life-news","tag-lifestyle","tag-local-news","tag-manitoba","tag-national-news","tag-new-brunswick","tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","tag-news","tag-northwest-territories","tag-nova-scotia","tag-nunavut","tag-ontario","tag-pei","tag-photos","tag-political-news","tag-political-opinion","tag-politics","tag-politics-news","tag-quebec","tag-sports-news","tag-technology","tag-travel","tag-trudeau","tag-us-news","tag-world-news","tag-yukon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/324070","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=324070"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/324070\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/324071"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=324070"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=324070"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=324070"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}