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Canada
Canada became the first nation to emerge through the global qualifying process and confirm its place at RWC 2011.
Rugby Canada
Chairman: Rick Bourne
Chief Executive Officer: Graham J. Brown
Men's Coach: Kieran Crowley
Rugby Canada
40 Vogell Road, Suite 26
Richmond Hill
ONTARIO L4B 3N6
CANADA
Phone: +1 (905) 780 8998
Fax: +1 (905) 780 6290
Email: dcrosse@rugbycanada.ca
Website: www.rugbycanada.ca
Key facts and figures
Number of clubs: 296
Number of registered players: 22,218
IRB Union Ranking (as at 15 January 2010): 14
Key information
Rugby Union is moderately popular in Canada as a participatory, rather than spectator sport, and attracts supporters from a wide demographic. Canadian Rugby supporters are dedicated fans of the game and are committed to watching, playing, as well as cheering on the national teams and forever promoting the sport in Canada. The sport is played across Canada, but is most popular in Newfoundland on the east coast, where it is considered to be the most popular summer sport, and on Vancouver Island and the Lower Mainland of British Columbia.
Provincial Canadian Rugby is faced with two major hurdles: firstly, geographic isolation and the sheer size of the country, which makes inter-province competition difficulty, and secondly, the cold climate that sees many grounds under snow / ice for significant portions of the year. However, Canada has historically not been so isolated in terms of international Rugby, with European, Australian and New Zealand sides stopping off to play in the days before long distance jet flight.
Canada is classified by the International Rugby Board (IRB) as a tier two Rugby nation alongside Fiji, Japan, Romania, Samoa, Tonga and the United States. The leading Rugby events in Canada are the Churchill Cup and the Rugby Canada Super League games. Four Canadian teams participate in the Americas Rugby Championship, an annual competition established by the IRB and designed to grow the sport in Canada and the USA. Known for their trademark "hard–nosed" style of play, many Canadian players also play professionally in English and French leagues. Canada achieved their best result at the World Cup when they reached the quarter-finals in 1991.
Team and player statistics
View team and player statistics from the Rugby World Cup 2011 website
