Rugby union in Canada

Rugby union in Canada
Fiji playing Canada in the 2007 Rugby World Cup
Country	Canada
Governing body	Rugby Canada
National team(s)	Men's national team Women's national team
First played	1864, Montreal
Registered players	28,966 (total) 12,665 (adult) 7,390 (teenage) 4,714 (pre-teenage) [1]
Clubs	324
National competitions
Rugby World Cup Rugby World Cup Sevens Sevens World Series Americas Rugby Championship World Rugby Pacific Nations Cup
Club competitions
Major League Rugby Canadian Rugby Championship Rugby Canada National Junior Championship

Rugby union (French: rugby à XV) is a moderately popular sport in Canada; it is quite strong as a participation sport, particularly in several hotspots like British Columbia, Atlantic Canada (particularly in Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador), the West Island of Montreal, Quebec City and Ontario but does not attract the same level of spectator support yet, likely because the CFL's popular brand of Canadian Football is still similar to rugby in many ways, whilst also being the dominant football code in the country. Rugby Canada is the administrative body for rugby union in Canada. Every province also has its own union.

Canada has around 26,000 seniors and twice as many junior players spread across the country, the leading domestic competitions are the Americas Rugby Championship, a cross-border regional competition including the United States, Argentina, and Uruguay. The Rugby Canada National Junior Championship for under-20 players organised solely within Canada by Rugby Canada, the sports governing body, and Major League Rugby, the top level of club rugby in the country.

Canada is classified by World Rugby (WR) as a tier two rugby nation. Tier two nations do not have a full-time professional domestic structure in place, but they are considered by WR to be the most promising countries in which to expand the sport. The Canadian national side have competed in every Rugby World Cup to date yet have only won one match each tournament, with the exception of the 1991 tournament where they reached the quarterfinals, and 2015 and 2019, where they failed to win a single pool game.

Canada's main problems have included the climate, because many grounds are under snow/ice for significant portions of the year, leading to a split season.^[2][3] Canada has long been a regional power in the sport, albeit in one of the sport's weaker regions. Argentina are the leading team in the Americas, usually followed by Canada, the United States and Uruguay.