ELBOWS UP FOR CANADA!

Young lock PIERS VON DADELSZEN hopes to change the fortunes of Canadian men's rugby as they arrow in on RWC 2027

- WILL HEAVER

BACK IN 1991, Canada were a rugby powerhouse, qualifying for the quarterfinals of the World Cup before losing to reigning champions New Zealand 29-13.

Throw forward 20 years and the Canucks were still competitive on the world stage. A side containing the likes of DTH van der Merwe, Jamie Cudmore and Jebb Sinclair were knocked out in the group stage in the World Cup, but recorded a victory over Tonga and a draw with Japan.

Since then, Canadian men's rugby has been on an alarming decline. In 2015 and 2019, they were dumped out in the group stage with barely a whimper. Then, in 2021, disaster struck as defeat over two legs to Chile meant they failed to qualify for rugby's premium tournament for the first time in their history.

Now, the side looks to be slowly turning a corner with players like 25-year-old Piers von Dadelszen leading a new generation hoping to give Canada new-found respectability in world rugby.

Six years ago, the Toronto-born second-row was in his first year at Oxford University, too small to even break into the Blues XV. Now von Dadelszen is an integral part of his country's pack and has won two MLR titles with the New England Freejacks. "As soon as I started playing age-grade stuff for BC (British Columbia) at 14 and 15, I knew I wanted to play for Canada," he says.

Von Dadelszen moved to the UK at the age of 15 as both his parents got jobs in Surrey. But he was able to keep playing in the Canadian domestic pathways. “I didn’t want to lose contact with the Canada pathways and I was lucky enough that a coach called Pat Parfrey, who was based in Newfoundland, said I could play for them and still be connected to the pathway whilst in the UK.”

Von Dadelszen ended up studying at Whitgift School in Croydon, who boast alumni such as Elliot Daly and Danny Cipriani. “Whitgift was perfect for me, it was a great rugby school with lots of great coaching and facilities and I excelled there.”