HOW THE MAPLE LEAF WILTED

KIERAN CROWLEY guided Italy to a win over Wales in March but his path to Cardiff begins six years ago, when he resigned as Canada coach. In Crowley’s shift lies the story of rugby in Canada.

Canada crashed at the 2015 World Cup but Crowley was committed to the project. He had become fluent in how the game, far from a top sport in the country, is thought of and the quirks of how rugby is run in the Great White North. He didn’t really want to go and yet he did. And since his departure, nearly everything else has gone south. The women’s sevens squad won bronze in Rio but collapsed in Tokyo.

The women’s XVs team, who finished second at the 2014 World Cup, slumped in 2017 and, with the next tournament only months away, sacked their coach.

The men’s sevens battled to eighth place in Tokyo and the Vancouver Sevens is a boisterous event, but