Rugby Canada Hires Scottish Rugby Union Skills Coach and Assistant Great Britain 7s Coach, Craig Dods, as Canada 7s Coach
Here we go again, foreign coach hires foreign assistant coach. I feel bad for all the qualified Canadian coaches, and there are quite a few who could have filled this position. In the end it would be the decision of Stephen Meehan and who he wants as assistant XVs coach. The 7s coaching aspect is secondary, the Canadian team’s pathway to the Olympics is basically a straight line, win the RAN 7s and advance to the Olympics. The USA as host qualify, so Canada just have to defeat Mexico and the Caribbean nations. In 2025 Canada won the Rugby Americas North (RAN) 7s tournament at a trot scoring 225 points in total and conceding 14 with Christiaan Esterhuizen as coach. He was 7s coach, U20 coach and Pacific Pride coach at the same time.
Looking through Dods Linkedin profile there are some aspects that Meehan might have been impressed with, Specialist Skills Coach – Kicking, kicking is becoming an important part of the XVs game. He does have some SVNS series experience as the Great Britain 7s assistant coach, they were in the top tier of eight countries last season, but finished last. He was the Scotland youth 7s coach in 2023 when they won Gold at the Youth Commonwealth Games, defeating Fiji and South Africa, that probably jumped out as a significant accomplishment. Being head coach of the Hungary XVs team, probably less impressive, although his profile indicated it was their best result in the Rugby Europe trophy event.
As usual, see how he does, how the players react to him, how he interacts with the clubs providing his player selection pool. His Linkedin career highlights are below. The Rugby Canada media release is also posted below.
Scottish Rugby
National Talent Pathway Coach – East
Sep 2025 – Present · 1 yr 1 mo
Scotland U18 Attack & Backs Coach
Jul 2024 – Present · 2 yrs 3 mos
Specialist Skills Coach – Kicking
Jun 2022 – Oct 2024 · 2 yrs 5 mos
Great Britain Rugby 7s
Men’s Assistant Coach
Oct 2024 – Present · 2 yrs
Scotland 7s coach – Youth Commonwealth Games
May 2023 – Aug 2023 · 4 mos
Lead the Scotland Youth 7s programme where we won a gold medal. Scotland’s first ever team medal at a youth or senior games, defeating South Africa and Fiji on the way.
Rugby Development Officer
Gala Rugby Football Club
Jul 2020 – Jun 2022 · 2 yrs
Galashiels, Scotland, United Kingdom
Hungarian Rugby Union
Head Coach
Mar 2018 – Jan 2021 · 2 yrs 11 mos
Budapest
Led Hungary to their highest ever finish in the Rugby Europe trophy event. Developing youth players and integrating them into the senior squad along the way.
Scotland U16 Assistant Coach (Defence)
Scottish Rugby Union
Sep 2019 – Sep 2020 · 1 yr 1 mo
Assistant Coach
Borders and East Lothian Academy
Aug 2017 – Jul 2020 · 3 yrs
from Rugby Canada
Rugby Canada is pleased to announce the appointment of Craig Dods as the new head coach of Canada’s Men’s Sevens Team and assistant coach for Canada’s Men’s 15s Team.
Craig Dods comes into the role after serving as Scottish Rugby’s Specialist Skills coach, GB7s Assistant Coach and National Talent Pathway Coach (Scottish Rugby).
“I’m delighted to be joining Rugby Canada at a pivotal time for the sport in such a proud and passionate rugby country, said Dods. I’m excited to have the opportunity to make an impact on the Men’s Sevens programme as we aim towards the 2028 LA Olympics and support Stephen Meehan as the 15s team look towards the Men’s Rugby World Cup 2027.
I can see that Rugby Canada has elite high-performance players who have the skill set and desire to compete at the highest level of our game, across both sevens and 15s. My family and I look forward to arriving, meeting the players, coaches and seeing the impact the sport has across the country.”
“This position attracted over 70 highly qualified applicants from domestic and international backgrounds, said Shawn Bullock Rugby Canada’s High Performance Director. Our selection panel conducted a multi-stage recruitment process, assessing candidates against the position profile and the high-performance requirements of the program. This included two phases of interviews designed to evaluate coaching expertise, leadership capabilities, technical knowledge, and alignment with our program’s values and performance environment. We are excited to welcome Craig to our coaching staff with his experience and expertise in 7s and 15s.”