Canada national rugby league team

This article is about the men's team. For the women's team, see Canada women's national rugby league team.

Not to be confused with Canada national rugby union team.

Canada

Team information
Nickname	Wolverines
Governing body	Canada Rugby League
Region	Americas
Head coach	Aaron Zimmerle
Captain	Skyler Dumas
Home stadium	Lamport Stadium
IRL ranking	31st
Uniforms
First colours Second colours
Team results
First international
Canada 23–10 United States   (1987)
Biggest win
Canada 52–14 United States   (Toronto, Ontario; 9 August 2014)
Biggest defeat
England 68–4 Canada   (Toronto, Ontario; 6 October 2012)

The Canada national rugby league team represents Canada in international rugby league football tournaments.

History

Further information: Rugby league in Canada

1987–2000: Origins

Rugby league was first introduced to Canada in the 1900s but was quickly outlawed by Rugby Union officials and thus became Canadian Football. It was not until the late 1980s that rugby league was re-introduced to Canada at an amateur level, when a short-lived 4-team domestic competition, known as the Tri-Counties Rugby League, was established. Four teams competed in its first year, three in Canada and one in the U.S., the New York–based Adirondacks club. ^[1]

The Canadian national team played their first game in 1987 against the USA. They then played sporadically throughout the 1990s and participated in the 1995 and '96 Rugby League World Sevens and Rugby League Emerging Nations World Cup in 2000. Following the 2000 Emerging Nations World Cup, the Canadian Rugby League Federation folded. As a result, the national team was disbanded and the sport remained dormant for 10 years.

2010 onwards: Revival

The briefly used "Mounties" 2010 logo

In 2010, a new governing body, Canada Rugby League, was formed. Their first comeback game was in 2010 in the War at the Shore tournament, where they played New England Immortals, a New England representative team, and the New York Knights AMNRL club team, losing both games. ^[2] The team's international comeback was later in the year in September in the inaugural Colonial Cup. ^[3] Later that year they competed in the Rugby League Atlantic Cup in Jacksonville, Florida.

Canada's first win since they were reformed came the following year in 2011 against Jamaica. They collected their second win in September, against the US in the second game of the Colonial Cup. However, due to an earlier loss to the US and the resulting aggregate scores, Canada was unable to win the Cup. Canada's international season finished up with a defeat against South Africa, in a warm up game before their 2013 World Cup qualifiers campaign.

In 2014, Stuart Donlan was appointed as head coach. ^[4] Donlan's first game was the 2014 Colonial Cup's only fixture. He coached Canada to a famous victory which made them the Colonial Cup champions for the very first time. ^[5] Aaron Zimmerle, the head coach of the Tweed Heads Seagulls, took over the main coaching role in 2015 in their 2017 World Cup qualifying campaign. ^[6]

After failing to qualify for the 2017 World Cup, the Canada Rugby League Board appointed Benjamin Fleming as coach on a three-year deal. Canada Rugby League Association Vice President David Graham said "the board's decision to appoint Fleming as Head Coach was based on the hard work and passion he has shown since returning to the association last year."

Current squad

Canada squad for March 1, 2024 match against the USA Hawks. ^[7]

Player	Caps	Points	Club
Dillon Hamilton	1	0
Josh Michalik	2	4
Luke Toroca	1	4
Lee Keegel	2	4
Colton Carpenter	2	8
Blake Mahovic	2	8
Jacob Bourne	2	6
David Astley	1	0
Ben Stothers	2	0
Chuck Curran	2	4
Jason Chuck	2	0
Jason Park	2	2
Scyler Dumas	2	0
Kyle Yurkiw	2	0
Daniel Martyn	2	0
Niko Andrionas	1	0
Danny Tupou	1	0

Competitive Record

Main article: List of Canada national rugby league team results

Overall and IRL Rankings

IRL Men's World Rankings v t e
Official rankings as of July 2025
Rank	Change	Team	Pts %
1		Australia	100
2		New Zealand	83
3		England	80
4		Tonga	62
5		Samoa	53
6		Papua New Guinea	51
7		Fiji	43
8		France	29
9	2	Netherlands	22
10		Cook Islands	22
11	2	Serbia	18
12		Wales	18
13		Malta	16
14	1	Greece	14
15	1	Ukraine	13
16		Lebanon	11
17		Italy	10
18		Ireland	9
19	5	United States	8
20	1	Jamaica	8
21	1	Czech Republic	8
22		Scotland	7
23	2	Chile	7
24	1	Philippines	7
25		Poland	5
26	1	Germany	5
27	1	Norway	5
28	2	South Africa	5
29		Brazil	4
30		Kenya	4
31		Canada	4
32		Montenegro	3
33		North Macedonia	3
34	22	Morocco	3
35	1	Argentina	3
36	1	Albania	2
37	1	Bulgaria	2
38	1	Ghana	2
39	1	Nigeria	2
40	1	Turkey	1
41	1	Cameroon	1
42	1	Japan	1
43	1	Spain	1
44	1	Colombia	1
45	1	El Salvador	0
46	1	Russia	0
47	1	Bosnia and Herzegovina	0
48	1	Hong Kong	0
49	1	Solomon Islands	0
50	1	Vanuatu	0
51	6	Hungary	0
52	1	Latvia	0
53	1	Denmark	0
54	1	Belgium	0
55	1	Estonia	0
56	1	Sweden	0
57	7	Niue	0
Complete rankings at www.internationalrugbyleague.com

Below is the head-to-head record of the Canadian national XIII side up to date as of 22 October 2024. ^{[8] [9]}

Against	First Played	P	W	L	D	% Won	Last Played	F	A	D
Bosnia and Herzegovina	2019	1	1	0	0	100%	2018	78	2	+76
Chile	2018	1	1	0	0	100%	2018	62	12	+50
England Lionhearts	2012	2	0	2	0	0%	2014	16	102	–86
Fiji	2016	1	0	1	0	0%	2016	12	26	–14
France	1995	1	0	1	0	0%	1995	32	72	–40
Italy	2000	1	0	1	0	0%	2000	6	66	–60
Jamaica	2010	10	6	3	1	60%	2024	238	180	+58
Japan	1999	2	1	1	0	50%	2000	28	26	+2
Lebanon	2012	1	1	0	0	100%	2012	36	18	+18
Serbia	2019	1	0	1	0	0%	2019	8	36	–28
South Africa	2011	1	0	1	0	0%	2011	22	36	–14
United States	1993	28	5	22	1	20.83%	2024	448	914	–466
Total	1993	50	15	33	1	31.11%	2024	986	1,490	–504

World Cup

World Cup Record
Year	Round	Position	Pld	Win	Draw	Loss
1954	did not enter
1957
1960
1968
1970
1972
1975
1977
1985–88
1989–92
1995
2000	did not qualify
2008
2013
2017
2021
2026

Colonial Cup

Colonial Cup record
Year	Round	Position	GP	W	L	D
2010	Second place	2/2	1	0	1	0
2011	Second place	2/2	2	1	1	0
2012	Second place	2/2	2	0	2	0
2013	Second place	2/2	4	1	3	0
2014	Champions	1/2	1	1	0	0
2015	Champions	1/2	3	2	1	0
2016	Second place	2/2	2	0	2	0
2017	Second place	2/2	1	0	1	0
2024	Draw	1/2	1	0	0	1
Total	2 Titles	9/9	17	5	11	1

Caribbean Carnival Cup

• The Caribbean Carnival Cup is annual series that has been played between Canada and Jamaica since 2011.

Caribbean Cup record
Year	Round	Position	GP	W	L	D
2011	Champions	1/2	1	1	0	0
2012	Champions	1/2	1	1	0	0
2013	Champions	1/2	1	1	0	0
2014	Champions	1/2	1	1	0	0
Total	4 Titles	4/4	4	4	0	0

Atlantic Cup

Atlantic Cup record
Year	Round	Position	GP	W	L	D
2009	Not Invited
2010	Second place	2/3	2	1	1	0
Total	0 Titles	1/2	2	1	1	0

See also

• Sports portal
• Canada portal

• Toronto Wolfpack
• Rugby league in Canada

References

1. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 1 January 2011. Retrieved 26 January 2011.
2. Lester, Jamie (5 April 2010). "Canadian team to play in AMNRL 'War at the Shore'". rleague.com. Archived from the original on 9 April 2010. Retrieved 18 September 2010.
3. O'Neill, Matthew (16 August 2010). "Canada to host USA in inaugural Colonial Cup". rleague.com. Archived from the original on 20 August 2010. Retrieved 18 September 2010.
4. "Stuart Donlan named head coach of Canada Wolverines". Archived from the original on 24 May 2014. Retrieved 15 June 2014.
5. "Rugby League Planet - Canada 52 smack USA 14 in Rugby League international". www.rugbyleagueplanet.com. Archived from the original on 11 April 2015.
6. "Canada announces Aaron Zimmerle as head coach for Qualifiers". CRL. 11 September 2015. Archived from the original on 19 September 2015. Retrieved 12 September 2015.
7. "Senior International Matches 2024". Rugby League Project. Retrieved 23 October 2024.
8. "Head to Head". Rugby League Project. Retrieved 27 December 2020.
9. "PAST RESULTS". Canada rugby league. Retrieved 25 April 2021.

External links

• Canada Rugby League Website