Canada's Men's Rugby Team Staff Updates

Francois Ratier, who took over the daily training environment at the Canadian Rugby Centre of Excellence in Langford in 2017 after four years as Head Coach of Canada’s Women’s Fifteens Team, moved back to Montreal last month to take over the role as General Manager of Rugby Quebec. 

“On behalf of the Rugby Canada Board of Directors, I would like to thank Francois for all that he has done for Canada’s National Teams, male and female, in various positions over the years,” said Allen Vansen, Rugby Canada CEO. “Francois is an excellent coaching asset and will continue to serve Rugby in Quebec and Canada, and we wish him all the best in his future endeavours.”
 
Moving forward, Kingsley Jones will be assisted by Henry Paul who takes over as the defence coach for Canada’s Men’s Fifteens Team. Paul is a former rugby league and rugby union international who represented New Zealand in rugby league and England in fifteens and sevens. Paul has previously worked with Kingsley Jones as the assistant coach for Russia and has been the Director of Rugby at the JA Dragons RFC in the United Arab Emirates since August 2017. 

“It’s exciting to have someone with as much international experience as Henry Paul join as a defensive specialist to work with us on our national teams, based out of the Centre of Excellence in Langford,” said Hopkins.

“While Henry will initially be helping our men’s team prepare to qualify for the RWC 2019 in November, he will also be working across the country with regional and provincial coaches on defensive structures for the game in Canada.”

Rugby Canada is also delighted to announce that Welshman, Gethin Watts will be consulting our age-grade and talent identification departments on a short-term contract. Watts brings a wealth of experience and rugby knowledge to the table and is eager to assist in developing the next generation of Canadian rugby players.

Watts has served as the National Performance Manager for the Welsh Rugby Union for the past six years and played a major role in setting up regional and national performance programmes, with a focus on elite young players. 

“Gethin is a world class rugby consultant with expertise ranging from talent identification and player development to performance analysis and National academy strategies. We’re excited to have a man of Gethin’s calibre come over to share his knowledge and help develop the next generation of Canadian rugby players and coaches,” added Hopkins.

Canada Selects Team is set to face the Ontario Arrows in the second and final pre-June Series showdown this Saturday at Westhills Stadium at 8pm ET/5pm PT to prepare for the upcoming internationals against Scotland, Russia and USA.  The match will be free to attend, along with streamed live at www.facebook.com/RugbyCanada

Tickets for Canada versus Scotland on June 9, 2018 at Commonwealth Stadium in Edmonton, AB to kick off the Summer series can be purchased at www.rugby.ca/en/tickets  

-30-