There finally looks to be a glimmer.
The Langford-based Canadian rugby team, which fell from No. 12 in the world in 2011 to bottoming out last summer at No. 24, is slowly working its way back to respectability.
sa国际传媒 is 21st in the latest World Rugby ranking, thanks to the 37-27 victory over No. 20 Spain last week in Madrid. That halted a nine-game Test winless streak for sa国际传媒 that dated back to its previous win on Feb. 11 at Westhills Stadium over Chile.
The victory over Spain was a mild statement. sa国际传媒 hopes to make a major one Saturday when it meets No. 10 Fiji in Narbonne, France.
sa国际传媒 is 4-8 all-time against the quick and clever Fijians. But Fiji is coming off two Test losses to No. 4 Ireland and No. 13 Italy, and could be vulnerable.
New head coach Kingsley Jones celebrated his first Test victory at Madrid in his third game with sa国际传媒 following a 51-9 loss Nov. 3 against the New Zealand Maori All Blacks at sa国际传媒 Place before a Canadian rugby record crowd of 29,480 and a 54-22 loss to No. 12 Georgia two weeks ago in Tbilisi.
Jones saw a lot of good in sa国际传媒鈥檚 performance at Madrid and wants to see that momentum continue into the Fiji Test: 鈥淭he players worked really hard. Our ball presentation at times was good and our attacking shape was excellent. Our front five were excellent.鈥�
Jones is a Welshman who took the Canadian job after building the Russian national team to where it is now No. 19 in the world. It鈥檚 all about international results and he knows now is the time to start leaning in on the players: 鈥淲e didn鈥檛 want to put too much pressure on them but it was critical to put some pressure on the boys to make them understand it鈥檚 about winning Tests.鈥�
sa国际传媒鈥檚 backline remains unchanged for Fiji after centres DTH van der Merwe of Victoria and Taylor Paris of Barrie, Ont., who both play professionally in Europe, accounted for four tries between them in Madrid. London Irish pro Ciaran Hearn, the former standout with the Castaway Wanderers of Oak Bay, earned rave reviews from Jones in Madrid and will reprise his starting role in the backfield. The plucky veteran scrum-half Phil Mack of Victoria will again captain sa国际传媒. Up front, Josh Larsen from Parksville will start in the second row while former University of Victoria Vikes and Castaway Wanderers star Jake Ilnicki, now a pro with Newcastle, will start in the front row.
The Fiji fixture ends the November Test window for sa国际传媒. The next Tests for the Canucks will be the Americas repechage, two-game, total-point sa国际传媒-Uruguay series Jan. 27 at sa国际传媒 Place and Feb. 3 in Montevideo, with the winner advancing to the 2019 World Cup in Japan. It is the first time that sa国际传媒, beaten badly by the U.S. Eagles over the summer, has failed to advance to the World Cup directly out of the North American qualifier. Uruguay is No. 18 but sa国际传媒 has historically been the stronger rugby nation.
鈥淲e need a really good performance against Fiji to stand us in good stead for the Uruguay games,鈥� said Jones.
