Steve Meehan, head coach 

On being drawn with Argentina, Fiji and Spain in Pool C:

"I think it's a good pool. It's full of different sorts of challenges. Every team wants to play. So, all those teams are running rugby teams and that's going to be a great experience for us. Some of the rugby that Argentina played in the middle of this year was outstanding especially in some of their attacking play. We saw first-hand what Fiji are capable of over the last few years, and we know that Spain can attack from deep in their own territory as well."

On the excitement of coaching in his first Rugby World Cup: 

"I’m extremely excited. I don’t think it’s a secret that we’ve not had our strongest squad over the course of this year but the discussions I’ve had with players who haven’t been a part of it yet are really positive thus far. So I expect there to be more competition for spots. The brand of rugby the other teams play is similar to our philosophy, so I think it's a particularly exciting pool. As the names were drawn out I wasn’t unhappy about any of it, I thought it was great, I think it’s something to really look forward to." 

On the new format: 

"There’s a lot of opportunities scattered around each pool and by the time we get to the tournament, we’ll have as strong a squad as what we’ve seen before. It’s a wonderful opportunity to give everybody a bit of a sniff. 

On what Canada need to focus on: 

"We need to try and build some depth. If you have a look at what's happened with the age groups of our players, we have a lot of experienced players like Lucas, and players just finishing at university. There’s a middle core off the back of the COVID years, where we suffered from a lack of fixtures, and didn’t feel they had that opportunity and so went elsewhere. So, we’ll have 45 to 50 players knocking on the door and doing as well as they can to get on that plane. 

Lucas Rumball, captain

On facing Spain after a narrow loss to them this year: 

"They’re a familiar face, we’ve drawn them in the summer a few times. It was a great game, good back and forth, good attacking rugby, it gives us time to prepare to match our opponents in terms of their attacking structure. That Spain game will be a big target and I’m looking forward to it. 

On the new RWC format:

"I think it’s more exciting, more things can happen, different combinations, different games. So it adds a layer of excitement and I think it adds a little bit more intensity to all the games." 

On playing in the 2019 World Cup in Japan:

"It was an unbelievable spot and I’d love to go back there. On the rugby side of things it’s always a treat to go there, they have great fans."

On not qualifying for the 2023 World Cup: 

"I was part of the group that didn’t qualify in 2023, it still hurts to this day. I think a lot of guys made a decision that day whether to hang it up or get back to it and make it to a World Cup getting the team back to where it needed to be."

On whether the success of the women’s team at Rugby World Cup 2025 inspired them:

"For sure. They play a really exciting brand with a sense of confidence, not worried about making mistakes. They [always] try to speed up their tempo and we can take a lot from that. 

On the progression of Argentina and which player he’s looking forward to playing against:

"Probably [Pablo] Matera. He’s so fun to watch. They're a fun team, they play from anywhere. That game against Scotland when they were down by 21 and they came back, you’d count most teams out with that kind of scoreline. Their whole team’s great but Matera would be a great guy to play against, he’s always someone you watch in these tier 1 fixtures and he’s always going well. It’ll be an exciting challenge, with physical and fast rugby and it’ll be good to measure ourselves against that."