From Westhills Stadium to the heady heights of Stade de France? The Canadian men鈥檚 rugby team will soon find out. The end game came into view Monday for the Langford-based national squad as the draw for the 2023 World Cup was held in Paris.
Now comes the task of claiming the prize and extending sa国际传媒鈥檚 streak to 10 after having qualified for all nine previous World Cups. But it won鈥檛 be easy for a Canadian side that scraped in as the 20th and final qualifier for the last World Cup in 2019 in Japan.
The top-12 nations from the previous World Cup qualify automatically for the next World Cup. Eight berths remain to be filled for 2023 with sa国际传媒 颅having three avenues. 颅Canadian head coach Kingsley Jones vowed his side will work hard to qualify through one of them: 鈥淲e aim to win any series we play in during the World Cup 2023 qualifying rounds.鈥�
If successful in qualifying, sa国际传媒 has the possibility of entering three of the four groups for the 2023 World Cup 颅tournament to be held across nine venues in France.
鈥淭he number of Americas qualification spots for World Cup 2023 remain the same, with two automatic berths and a third opportunity through the global repechage tournament鈥� said Rugby sa国际传媒 CEO Allen 颅Vansen, in a statement.
The U.S. and Uruguay captured the two Americas qualification berths into Japan 2019, leaving sa国际传媒 the precarious repechage route.
鈥淭he Americas region has a strong history of participation in the Rugby World Cup. We remain committed and focused on ensuring sa国际传媒 qualifies for World Cup 2023, extending our tradition of competing in every World Cup held,鈥� said Vansen.
If sa国际传媒 wins the Americas qualifying tournament, it will go into Pool A. But that may be no perk because it looks to be the Pool of Death with the three-time champion New 颅Zealand All Blacks, host France and Six Nations side Italy along with the to-be decided African champion.
Going in as the Americas second seed would see sa国际传媒 into Pool D with England, Japan, Argentina and the Oceania qualifying tournament champion. If sa国际传媒 enters as the 20th and final at-large qualifier, as it did for the 2019 World Cup in Japan, it will go into a tough Pool C with Wales, Australia, Fiji and the European qualifying tournament champion.
The only group sa国际传媒 cannot enter is Pool B with defending-champion South Africa, Ireland, Scotland, Asia/Pacific 1 and Europe 2.
The dates and venues for sa国际传媒鈥檚 games in the Americas qualifying tournament will be announced in 2021. The games will likely take place next fall because the vaccine rollout is expected to be completed by then. sa国际传媒鈥檚 home qualifying games for World Cup Japan 2019 took place at sa国际传媒 Stadium in Vancouver and BMO Field in Toronto. The Canadian away games were in San Diego against the U.S. and Montevideo against Uruguay. After that route failed, sa国际传媒 won the last-chance, at-large qualifying tournament held in Marseille, France, by beating Hong Kong, Kenya and Germany for the 20th and final berth.
鈥淥ur goals do not change. We remain focused on our own development and 颅progression and are planning a strategic build-up to the 颅qualification matches in order to be 颅performing at our top level,鈥� said Jones, as he looked ahead to 2023 qualifying.
The process began with the recently-concluded training camp in Langford that brought in more than 40 of the top 颅Canadian players not playing pro overseas.
sa国际传媒 is trying to arrest a long-term systemic decline from its quarter-final appearance in the 1991 World Cup through its cult-like folk-hero fame as the Beardos in the 2011 World Cup to currently ranked No. 23 in the world behind the likes of Russia, Portugal and Romania.
As part of the program looking to build to 2023 qualification, 59-time Wales-capped Rob 颅Howley has been brought into Langford on a three-year contract as Canadian team assistant coach to Jones.
