Put your 15 players on the pitch, draw your phases of play, export a clean image or an animated GIF and share your team in one tap. National heroes, world legends, your club mates — from prop to fullback.
Pick your formation, place your 15 players on a real pitch (in-goal, 22 m and halfway lines, H posts) and add their photo. Walk away with a clean image ready to share.
The rugby tactics board. Place players and opponents, draw passes, runs, kicks and zones, then animate your phase step by step.
TeamBranch reproduces the official structure of a rugby union XV: 8 forwards (the pack), 7 backs (the line), a captain, a tactical formation. Fifteen positions, fifteen calls, from number 1 to number 15.
Draft from the current Canada internationals, the Canucks immortals (Gareth Rees, Al Charron, DTH van der Merwe, Norm Hadley, Winston Stanley), the Major League Rugby and provincial stars, or pick from the All Blacks, Springboks, Wallabies, Six Nations and the USA Eagles. You can also build a side made entirely of mates for the Saturday club run.
Canada is back. After the painful first-ever miss in 2023, the Canucks qualified for Australia 2027 and landed in Pool C with Argentina, Fiji and Spain. Twenty-four nations, an expanded format — pick the XV that walks back onto the World Cup stage.
Pick the side that takes on Japan, Fiji, Samoa, Tonga and the USA in the Pacific Nations Cup — Canada's main international stage and the proving ground for every World Cup cycle. Plus the cross-border showdown with the Eagles.
Mix the Canadians spread across Major League Rugby in North America with the pros earning a living in the Premiership, Top 14, Pro D2 and the URC. The diaspora XV — the real engine of the modern Canucks.
Your old man at prop, mate at hooker, brother at scrum-half, sister on the wing. Upload your own photo cards for the provincial final, the club tour, the work team-build, or just the post-match social.
From the first Test on Japanese soil in 1932 to the heartbreak of missing France 2023 and the redemption of qualifying for Australia 2027, Canada's rugby story is one of grit, distance and pride: a 1991 World Cup quarter-final, a women's team that reached the 2025 final, and a men's side back on the biggest stage. On TeamBranch you can replay every generation — or rewrite the qualifiers that got away.
Canadian rugby grew from the schools and clubs of British Columbia and Ontario, with the first overseas tours to Japan and the British Isles long before professionalism arrived. The maple leaf became a symbol of plucky, well-organised underdogs who travelled enormous distances just to play.
By the time the inaugural Rugby World Cup came around in 1987, Canada was ready: they qualified, made the pool stage, and announced themselves on the world map. The amateur era built the spine of everything that followed.
The proudest chapter. At the 1991 Rugby World Cup, Canada beat Fiji and Romania, topped enough of the pool to reach the quarter-finals, and pushed New Zealand before falling 13–29. Captain and fly-half Gareth Rees, towering lock Norm Hadley and tireless back-rower Al Charron became national icons.
The momentum carried on: a famous draw with France in 1994, qualification for every World Cup, and a generation of hard forwards and brave backs who made Canada a respected tier-two nation throughout the 1990s and 2000s.
The professional era produced stars like winger DTH van der Merwe, Canada's record World Cup try-scorer (six), who carved out a career with Scarlets, Glasgow and Newcastle. Yet results slid, and in 2021 came the unthinkable: a play-off loss to Chile meant Canada failed to qualify for a World Cup for the first time, missing France 2023.
The response was a full rebuild — players scattered across Major League Rugby and Europe after the Toronto Arrows folded in 2023 — and then redemption. Under captain Lucas Rumball, Canada reached the 2025 Pacific Nations Cup semi-finals and booked their place at Australia 2027. The Canucks are back.
A rugby XV runs out with 15 starters and 8 reserves: the pack and the line, the forwards and the backs. Each jersey number maps to a specific role. TeamBranch reproduces this grammar for your lineup, one to fifteen.
The pack (1 to 8) is about set-piece and contact: scrums, lineouts, mauls, rucks. The backs (9 to 15) are about movement: handling, territory, running lines, finishing. All of it under a captain, who can wear any number.
Each generation has its faces, its system, its rivalries. On TeamBranch you can rebuild these XVs exactly, or change one name and see what happens. What if Canada had edged the 2021 qualifiers? What if the 1991 side had drawn an easier quarter-final? Answer in 60 seconds.
We may not be the biggest rugby nation, but no one wears the maple leaf without leaving everything on the field.— The spirit of the Canucks, the underdog code of Canadian rugby
The greatest fifteen in Canadian history: Rees, Charron, Hadley, van der Merwe, Stanley. The dream every Canadian fan argues about.
Your Canucks for the comeback: the MLR-based core, the European pros, the new caps. The XV that walks back onto the World Cup stage in Pool C.
The flagship side: the women who reached the 2025 World Cup final in England, runners-up to the Red Roses. Led by stars like Sophie de Goede.
From 1 October to 13 November 2027, 24 nations chase the Webb Ellis Cup across Australia — and Canada is back among them, drawn in Pool C with Argentina, Fiji and Spain. Build your Canucks squad before kickoff and share it.
The countdown is live — to the second.
Twenty-four teams in Australia. Here are the heavyweights at the top — and the tier-two rivals Canada knows best — across the road to the Webb Ellis Cup.
Canada has no single domestic super-league, so its talent is spread across Major League Rugby, the historic provincial championship, and the European leagues. Build an XV from any of these — they are all in the database.
Every XV you build gets its own shareable link and a clean preview card. Drop it in the group chat, post it before kickoff, and let the debate begin.
The most common questions about the lineup maker, the rules of the XV, and Canada's road to the 2027 Rugby World Cup.
Pick a tactical formation (classic, attacking, defensive, kicking game), then fill all 15 positions from 1 to 15 by drafting from 12,000 players: current Canada internationals, Canucks legends, Major League Rugby stars, world icons, or upload your own photo cards. You get a unique shareable link. No sign-up required, 100% free.
A rugby XV is made of 8 forwards (1 loosehead prop, 2 hooker, 3 tighthead prop, 4 and 5 locks, 6 and 7 flankers, 8 number eight) and 7 backs (9 scrum-half, 10 fly-half, 11 left wing, 12 inside centre, 13 outside centre, 14 right wing, 15 fullback). Plus 8 reserves on the bench. TeamBranch reproduces this grammar exactly.
Yes — and it is the most popular use right now. After missing 2023 for the first time ever, Canada bounced back, qualifying for Australia 2027 by reaching the 2025 Pacific Nations Cup semi-finals (sealed with a 34-20 win over the USA in Calgary). It is Canada's 10th World Cup, drawn in Pool C with Argentina, Fiji and Spain. RWC 2027 runs from 1 October to 13 November, expanded to 24 teams. Draft your Canucks XV — the MLR core, the European pros, the all-time greats — then edit and share it before every Test.
Of course. 800,000 custom XVs have already been built. Upload photos of your teammates, your dad, your sister, your cousin, your club coach, your Saturday morning second XV, and slot them into any position. Perfect for the provincial final, the work team-build, the club tour, or just a group-chat wind-up.
Women's rugby is integrated 100% — and in Canada it is the flagship. Build the side that reached the 2025 Rugby World Cup final in England, falling 33–13 to the Red Roses before a record Twickenham crowd — silver, the best finish in program history. Captain Sophie de Goede, back from an ACL injury, was named World Rugby Women's Player of the Year. The women's side has long out-ranked the men.
Major League Rugby (the pro league across North America), the historic Canadian Rugby Championship and provincial set-up (Pacific Pride, BC Bears, Ontario Blues, Prairie Wolf Pack, Atlantic Rock), plus the European leagues where Canadian pros play: England's Premiership, France's Top 14 and Pro D2, and the URC. More than 800 club cards in total.
Four: Classic (balanced), Attacking (loose forwards, fast wingers, ball-in-hand), Defensive (heavy pack, tactical scrum-half, kicking game), Kicking Game (territory rugby, dominant fly-half, box kicks). You can switch at any time and your XV reorganises automatically on the interactive field.
Rugby union (15 players, 80 minutes in 2 halves) is the classic format: Rugby World Cup, Pacific Nations Cup, Major League Rugby. Sevens (7 players, 14 minutes) is the short Olympic format, and Canada has a proud sevens record — the women have stood on Olympic and World Series podiums. TeamBranch covers both — Sevens drops autumn 2026.
The quarter-final in 1991 — still the high-water mark. Canada came through the pool, then pushed New Zealand all the way before going out 13–29 in Lille, outscoring the All Blacks in the second half to a standing ovation. Driven by captain Gareth Rees (four World Cups, first Canadian in the World Rugby Hall of Fame) and back-rower Al Charron, that generation made Canada an ever-present from 1987 to 2019. Winger DTH van der Merwe is Canada's record World Cup try-scorer with six.
Yes, no exception. Composition, sharing, exports, custom card uploads, tactical simulation: everything is free. No sign-up required, no intrusive ads, no paywall. Build as many XVs as you want.
Yes, 96 local editions including New Zealand (All Blacks), France (Les Bleus), South Africa (Springboks), Australia (Wallabies), Ireland, England, Wales, Scotland, Italy, Argentina (Los Pumas), Fiji, Japan (Brave Blossoms), the USA (Eagles). Each edition has its own player database and local terminology.
