Gentlemen,
I didn't plan on posting on here but I couldn't let this game and the teams performance of late slide any longer. The past year has been very difficult for me to watch and I think we have not played up to our full potential at all but I think everyone here needs to broaden their perspective a little bit before getting the pitchforks out and torching Rugby Canada. I think the team has some issues right now but Kieran Crowley is not the problem and removing him won't make one iota of difference. Lets first be clear, the National Team is in far better shape then it has been in recent memory.
The year 2008:
Scotland 41 Canada 03
Wales 34 Canada 13
Ireland 55 Canada 0
Portugal 14 Canada 21
The year 2004:
England 45 Canada 5
England 70 Canada 0
Italy 51 Canada 6
Yep, I remember both those tours and going into it as a Canadian fan I remember watching and not thinking we had a chance to win but how high of a cricket score it would be? The team we have today is far superior to anything we could put on the field even as close as five years ago. Just in the past two years we have:
Pushed Scotland to the very brink (A game we arguably should of won)
Nearly beat Samoa
Acquitted themselves well with against Irish and NZ Maori sides while being forced to play severely understrength
Beat Fiji and Tonga and very nearly won the Pacific Nations Cup
Lost narrowly to Georgia and Romania twice in three very physically grinding games against two very good teams who have also beaten the likes of Samoa and Tonga in the past year, and in the case of Georgia, pushed Argentina to the very brink.
Beat the United States twice (once badly) to qualify for the World Cup.
So why can't we close out games?
1. Poor Scheduling/Prep Time
As far as I am concerned, the schedule the boys have been forced to put up with and the absolutely farcical tour schedule the IRB has generated for Tier 2 Nations is one of the main reasons we have faired so poorly as of late. The IRB and Rugby Canada Management (Who should share some of the burden) have severely undermined our ability to field a competitive team week in week out when we do tour because of this. We compress our schedules too tightly and we play too many games in too short of a time period which prevents our players from being fully prepared when they do show up to play a game. We also play too many games that are absolutely meaningless and do nothing other than line everybody elses pockets but not our own.
Why did we agree to play an RFU Championship XV a week before an international test against Namibia? An utterly pointless game that gave some of our players unnecessary knocks and only made our team more tired for a very difficult tour schedule.
Why did we play Namibia in Cowlyn Bay? An utterly stupid place to play a game... if the IRB wants us to play Namibia it should be in our own backyard, same goes for Samoa?
We play a pointless game against an RFU Championship XV, force the boys to travel to Colwyn Bay for a neutral venue game, force them to probably take a long ass train ride down to Southern France and play a fired up Samoan team, then fly across Europe to Romania to play a very capable and well rested Romanian team (most of whom train and play together year round).
This to me doesn't really sound like much of a recipe for success.
Likewise, last November's tour was even more of a crap shoot
The NZ Maori game, while it did line Rugby Canada's coffers, forced us to travel and play a rugby game in Georgia in as little as Six Days! Georgia has a 9hr time difference from Toronto btw. We then had to leave Tbilisi and head for Romania and play another intense match against a well rested opponent.
The pattern was equally similar for the Pacific Nations Cup in June of 2013.
The cold hard facts gentleman is we are playing too many games with too little preparation and too little rest which leads to our players being increasingly susceptible to injury and doesn't give them enough time to gel as a team. Firing the coach isn't going to change any of this. Between Canada and the United States I would say there are no other countries in the world who have to play with such a crap hand dealt to them by the IRB.
I think we have a better team than Romania and I also think we have a better team than Georgia, unfortunately we don't have the opportunity to prove it because nobody will come play us in Canada or the United States for that matter on our terms. I'd love to see a Georgian or Romanian team come to Canada or the US in November for a game, or heaven forbid a Tier 1 nation actually play us, but it ain't going to happen because the IRB/World Rugby (Whatever they call themselves ) won't let it happen.
2. Rugby Canada Push Towards Sevens
Another problem we are suffering from is that Rugby Canada has prioritized the Seven-a-side form of the game at the expense of 15's. We saw the results of this today with our Scrum and Set Piece being completely dominated. Also, some of the forwards look like they forgot how to ruck as every single line break we made was turned over by the Romanians, who play a very simple but highly disciplined game. The Romanians aren't flashy but they do the dark arts stuff well and don't make a lot of errors on Defense. They also kick the ball well and force us to make mistakes with it.
We have a group of Canadian players who are playing both Sevens and Fifteens and this has worked ok but I believe the weaknesses with this development system are starting to show. For one thing, we could have really used dynamic players like Harry Jones and John Moonlight out there today but where are they? Oh preparing for Sevens of course. We don't have the depth that other nations do so we are forced to pick and choose who we take where which has meant that the National Union has chosen Sevens over Fifteens (Because Sevens is where the money is at) even though Fifteens is far more popular and Sevens is really just a side show spectacle.
We also have no development money left for our Tight Five who are the weakest link in our entire team. Cudmore is good but he is nearing his end and the rest of the Tight Five is a big step down in quality from him. Truth be told, I absolutely hate Sevens and think it is weakening our National Fifteens Team. We have some dynamic ball carriers but we are unable to utilize them because we have no forward pack that is capable of setting a proper base for them.
WHAT DO WE NEED TO DO GOING FORWARD?
1. Invest in scrummaging and developing the tight-five, it's our biggest weakness and we need to rectify it immediately or we will continue to lose close games to the likes of Romania, Georgia, Italy, etc....
2. Cut out the pointless games and devote more time to preparation. We don't have a lot of preparation as it is but we need to maximize the amount we do have.
3. Play our best team every time we are involved in a Test. The best team should always be on the field, if that means playing less tests, so be it.
4. PLAY TO OUR STRENGTHS! We have a lot of very good ball carriers and dynamic players who can run the ball well and make a lot of yards. Our team has a lot of Athletes and we need to play to that strength. There was a number of times today when we were 50 yards out and they were going for 3 pts where I thought, "boot the ball in the corner and take a chance at going for the try." Would have been a preferred option. We aren't England and we don't have a Jonny Wilkinson. I want us to play a "Pacific Islander" style game and throw the ball around a lot more then we have been and not be afraid to run and gun.
We as fans also need to understand there are NO EASY TESTS ANYMORE
Any team outside the Big Five (NZ, Aus, SA, Eng and Fra) can beat anyone else in the Top 20 on a given day if they are up to it. I consider all the Celtic Sides to be beatable if we show up to play and are given equal opportunity to prepare, same goes for Italy and Argentina. Every team is getting better and better every year and Rugby is getting very competitive at the top. I don't put much stock in IRB World Rankings as the rankings are much like the IIHF Hockey rankings and aren't really reflective of true national strength given the unfair tests schedules and double standards imposed by the IRB.
