Rugby Canada Updates – December 2024

Steve Meehan Named as Canadian Men’s XVs Head Coach

I have to admit, most of the Canadian rugby community feels sucker punched by Stephen Aboud right now. Instead of hiring Jamie Cudmore, who was the Canadian choice, he went for Australian Steve Meehan. I’ve had a few messages from Canadian rugby fans but as I’ve explained when you hire an American CEO and an Irish High Performance Director, you can’t expect a Canadian solution. Thank the current and previous Rugby Canada Board for that.

Who is Steve Meehan and can he can deliver the short term goal, qualification for the men’s 2027 World Cup? The bar has been set lower with an additional four teams to qualify for RWC 2027. Canada can qualify by beating either USA, Japan, likely Tonga, likely Chile and then get another chance through the repechage tournament.

What do we know about Steve Meehan?

From his Linkedin profile:

Stephen Meehan is a rugby union coach with seventeen (17) years of elite coaching experience. He has experienced varying environments as a result of coaching in Australia, France, England and Japan. His most rewarding experience was as Head Coach of the Bath Rugby Club from July 2006 to June 2011. Bath Rugby was recognised as the most innovative at that time in the English Premiership and was transformed from near bottom of the table to regular premiership semi-finalists. In 2008 they won the European Challenge Cup, the first trophy for the club in ten (10) seasons and still the most recent.

Whilst at Bath Stephen continued his pursuit of self-development and learning and passed the United Kingdom Coaching Certificate Levels 2, 3 and the invitation only Level 4. Through his level 4 studies he effectively implemented a strategy to assist players in reducing their high level of anxiety and ability to perform under pressure. During this period he was invited by the Rugby Football Union to present on numerous UKCC Level 2 and 3 courses ranging from practical demonstrations to helping coaches identify what had shaped their own coaching philosophy. He still acts as a mentor for coaches in Australia and other younger coaches that he has worked with professionally.

In October 2016, Steve attended his graduation for his Masters Degree from the University of West of England. His dissertation entitled, “The study of emotional intelligence, leadership and positive language in high performance coaching” gave Steve an even greater thirst for leading the development of high performance players and staff.

As a result of his travels, experiences and education he has established friendships with experts in the fields of coaching, performance and leadership around the world. In his spare time he can be found discussing or reading about these subjects, travelling with his wife Beth or contemplating them all whilst pretending to fish.

So he knows little about Canadian rugby except he was almost the Toronto Arrows coach, hired in October 2023 before the Arrows folded for the 2024 season. Obviously he has his work visa sorted out, you would think.

Last activity we saw he was back in Australia, 9 months ago.

What a brilliant couple of weekends spent with Rick Archer, Director of Coaching for Sunshine Coast Rugby Union in Noosa.

Coaches attended the Level 1 and 2 accreditation courses, sharing experiences and knowledge and I was delighted to be part of the education team.

Rugby on the Sunshine Coast is on the up with almost 50 coaches attending over the 2 weekends.

Last Aussie coach we had was David Clark who started the Pacific Pride/CCSD, he wasn’t too bad. At least he’s familiar with the big country, multiple sport competitors, landscape.

Will he be a popular coach with the community like Damian McGrath, or a stand offish coach like Kingsley, Kieran and his boss Stephen Aboud? Time will tell, we’ll be watching, and reporting.

There’s so many questions to start with, when will he arrive in Canada, will he be based out of Langford, what will his first impacts be in terms of camps, etc. My advice meet everyone coast to coast in January/February, take a trip to Saskatchewan to meet Karl Fix, Newfoundland to meet Pat Parfrey, get to know the landscape and people. Encourage elite players who aren’t playing in the winter to come to the BC Premier to be seen. Don’t hide in your office.

We would have preferred a long term solution, Jamie Cudmore, Canadian pride, but we’ve been given the short term solution and we’ll work with it if you show the effort.

It also explains why Rugby Pass deleted the Jamie Cudmore article, although they could have left it up, it just shows the lack of communication. Stephen Aboud to World Rugby, “mate I saw the Cudmore article, great guy, but we didn’t choose him, we’re announcing the coach tomorrow”, World Rugby to Rugby Pass, “mate, scrub the Cudmore article, doesn’t make us look good”. It shows Aboud’s way of working, in secret, not transparent, he doesn’t really care what the community thinks, he’s got one job, qualify for the World Cup. We’ll see how it goes and we may have to wait for a Canadian solution, at least until after the next purge. The USA went full on American pride with Scott Lawrence, Canada chose the foreign option, time will tell how it works out.

from Rugby Canada

Rugby Canada is pleased to announce the appointment of Steve Meehan as the new Head Coach of Canada’s Men’s Rugby Team.

Meehan comes into the role with 17 years of professional coaching experience with some of the top rugby competitions in the world. He served as Head Coach of Bath in the English Premiership for five seasons which included winning the European Challenge Cup. His coaching experience includes stints with French Top 14 teams Stade Français and Toulon, as well as Australia’s Western Force and Queensland Reds in Super Rugby.

“This is an exciting opportunity to be part of the next chapter for Canada’s Rugby Team and help guide the program into the future,” said Meehan. “I know Canada is a proud rugby country with a deeply passionate rugby community, and I look forward to start meeting coaches and players around the country. I see great potential in the players and I look forward to the role I can play to help grow the team and our sport across Canada.”

In pursuit of qualifying for the 2027 Rugby World Cup in Australia, the decision to name Meehan was taken following a lengthy process analyzing team results, performance, preparation, player feedback, and staff effectiveness conducted by Rugby Canada’s High Performance Director.

“A coach profile was identified to guide the competences, experience and characteristics needed in the next Canadian national team coach in order to give the program the best opportunity to succeed,” said Stephen Aboud, Rugby Canada’s High Performance Director. “We did a wide and expansive search for the next coach, evaluated over 150 coaches and Steve came through the process as our top candidate.”

“Steve brings proven experience in coaching successful teams and a strong track record for improving players,” said Nathan Bombrys, Rugby Canada CEO. “We believe Steve’s positive coaching and leadership will create the right environment for our team to achieve the growth needed to reach their potential and qualify for the Rugby World Cup.”