Some four years after his last outing for Canada, Tyler Ardron is happy to be back in the fold.
The 34-year-old forward from Peterborough, Ont., is set to earn cap No. 39 in Calgary on Friday when the 25th-ranked Canadian men open Pacific Nations Cup play against the 16th-ranked United States at McMahon Stadium
"It's exiting," said Ardron, a former Canada captain who plays his club rugby in France for Castres Olympique. "I'm happy to be back. It's got me back into the itch of playing for Canada, for sure."
Friday's game represents Canada's first step on the qualifying road to the 2027 Rugby World Cup. Which is fitting, given Ardron's last appearance was a 33-24 loss to Chile that sealed a 54-46 two-game aggregate defeat that left Canada out of the World Cup for the first time.
A lot has changed since then. Of the 23-man matchday roster for that game in Chile, only five others will dress Friday — captain Lucas Rumball, Cole Keith, Ben LeSage, Peter Nelson and Spencer Jones.
"Some exciting new blood in the team, for sure," said Ardron.
Canada has gone 7-18-0 since without Ardron, with Australian Steve Meehan taking over as coach earlier this year after Kingsley Jones stepped down in December after seven years at the helm.
Ardron, who will start at No. 8 on Friday, said he stepped away from the national team because he had to consider his own future.
"We've got to think about our retirement a bit as athletes," he said. "Like I'm only going to go another year or two as it is. I just needed to focus more on (club rugby).
"But that being said I've always been committed to the World Cup qualifying side of things."
He kept an eye on Rugby Canada and the changes it was going through on and off the field.
"I was hoping there would be some improvement in the program," he acknowledged. "A few changes were made. And when (Rugby Canada CEO) Nathan (Bombrys) and Steve (Meehan) got a hold of me and asked if I would come back, we just sorted out the logistics. It was a pretty easy decision."
Ardron has been impressed by Meehan.
"The biggest thing I've noticed is he's really left a lot of the decision to the players," he said.
"When things get tough and you need to make decisions, you can't call up to your coach or your CEO and ask what he thinks you should do for the next lineout, so it's great to see that he's really empowering the players," he added.
While Canada holds a 39-25-2 edge in the all-time series with the U.S., the Americans have won nine of the last 10 meetings with the lone Canadian win during that stretch a 34-21 decision in St John’s, N.L., in September 2021. The U.S. won 28-15 when they met in Carson, Calif., in last year's Pacific Nations Cup.
The Pacific Nations Cup, which also features No. 9 Fiji, No. 13 Samoa, No. 14 Japan and No. 19 Tonga, will send three teams to the 2027 World Cup, which is being hosted by No. 6 Australia.
Fiji and Japan have already qualified through their performance at the 2023 tournament, so a top-five finish would do it for Canada if Fiji and Japan finish above it.
Canada will complete Pool B play against Japan in Sendai on Aug. 30.
The semifinals and fifth-versus-sixth game are scheduled for Sept. 14 in Denver with the championship and third-place game Sept. 20 in Salt Lake City.
Should Canada fail to secure one of the three qualifying spots at the tournament, it could have two more shots at making the World Cup — first via a playoff against the Sudamerica Rugby Championship runner-up with the loser of that series dropping into the final qualification tournament, a four-team competition that will fill the final World Cup berth.
Canada finished sixth in last year's Pacific Nations Cup, beaten 30-17 by Tonga after group stage losses to the U.S. and Japan (55-28).
The six-foot-four, 240-pound Ardron captained Canada at the 2015 and 2019 World Cups in England and Japan, respectively.
At club level, he joined Castres in 2020 after stints in Wales with Ospreys and New Zealand with Bay of Plenty and the Gallagher Chiefs.
He and his girlfriend are enjoying life in France.
"I've loved it," he said. "I'm fluent in the language. I've made some good friends. I love the weather, the food."
In 2019 he captained Barbarians against Brazil, the first Canadian to serve as skipper of the famed invitational side that dates back to 1890.
Ardron is a man of many talents.
He has a degree in finance and economics and is a qualified yoga instructor. He also took a Toastmasters course and started learning the guitar. As a member of the Chiefs, he also had to master the haka — and songs in English, Fijian and Maori.
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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 21, 2025.
Neil Davidson, The Canadian Press
