The Rugby World Cup got going in Japan on Sept. 20 and what you may not have noticed is no Canada. At least not yet.
Don't worry – they're on the pitch very early Thursday morning at 1:45 a.m. to take on Italy in their first game of the tournament.
Kyle Baillie is a part of the team and he's the one member of the team with perhaps the strongest Northern connection of the bunch.
photo courtesy of Rugby Canada
Although he's called Prince Edward Island home for several years, Baillie was born in Yellowknife in 1991 and spent nine years in the capital before moving on to Hay River for a year. He picked up the sport when his family moved to Alberta and has been a member of the men's national rugby union team since 2016.
Baillie won't be part of the first game as he's still nursing a knee injury suffered in Canada's final tune-up game against the U.S. earlier this month.
“Everything's coming back well here so hope to be back on the grass with the boys soon,” he said.
Canada has been a part of every Rugby World Cup since the inaugural tournament in 1987 in New Zealand. The best result was a quarter-final finish in 1991 and it's the only time the team has made the final eight. Qualifying for the event usually meant going through the U.S. but it wasn't as easy this year.
The U.S. won the two-game total points series between the two teams earlier this year, giving them one of the automatic qualification spots out of the Americas. There was still a chance for Canada to get in if they could beat Uruguay, the South American runners-up, but Uruguay came out on top to get the third and final Americas spot.
The last chance for Canada to get in was the intercontinental repechage tournament in France last November with the 20th and final spot in the tournament on the line. They had to beat Germany, Hong Kong and Kenya and did so to get the last place.
Baillie said taking the long route to get to the tournament was a good character builder for the squad.
“We really had to dig deep and get through that last repechage stage to qualify,” he said. “Obviously, it would have been good to take the direct route but we got there nonetheless.”
Canada has one of the tougher pools in the tournament as they'll have to play New Zealand, Namibia and South Africa in addition to Italy.
New Zealand and South Africa will be the two toughest games for the team and Baillie said while Italy and Namibia are the two games the team is targeting for success, they're approaching those match-ups against the All Blacks and the Springboks like they do any other.
“Regardless of who we go up against, we know we want to impose ourselves in that big Canadian physical way,” he said. “We know we're going to have our challenges and obstacles but like I said, we're going to go out and do what we do best.”
Only the top two teams will advance out of each of the four pools to the knockout stage but finishing third in pool play is a big deal because it means automatic qualification for the 2023 tournament in France.
Baillie said that's the goal the team has set for this year.
“Thursday is going to be the starting block for that and make sure we get off on the right foot against Italy,” he said. “We've been working hard in our preparations and it'll be a good test for us.”
It's a truly national team with players coming from all parts of the country including Baillie, who's the only player born North of 60.
“Rugby was never a big sport up there but it's nice to be able to represent a bit of the North and a bit of the east,” he said. “We've got boys from far and wide on this team.”