Few players are lucky enough to play in one Rugby World Cup – those that realise this goal consider themselves privileged – whereas some in this Tournament are actually appearing on the sport’s greatest stage for the fourth time.
One such player is Al Charron, the back row forward recovering from a complete major reconstruction of his right knee in June to take his place in Canada’s squad and equal his former teammate Gareth Rees’ record of playing in four Tournaments.
“It is great to be part of an event, I believe it is called the third or fourth biggest sporting event in the world,” Charron told rugbyworldcup.com after playing his final Test in the Canadian jersey against Tonga last week.
“To take place in that [event] is very significant, to be able to do it four times is an honour and it has been very special to me to play against some of the best players in the world and to rub shoulders with the best in the game.
Rugby's Olympic Games
“It is just all the hype that comes around with the World Cup. It is very much our Olympics and it is something that really helps rugby become a higher profile sport in countries like Canada.
“Obviously Gareth [Rees] was a special player, one of the best players to ever come out of Canada, but I would have to be going a long way to beat some of Gareth’s records. It wasn’t my goal to tie or break any of Gareth’s records.
“It was special for me to make it to this World Cup just on my attributes alone, to make it here was very special and I was happy to have played in three World Cups with Gareth. It’s over now, but I certainly have a lot of great memories from it.”
The best of these memories is undoubtedly Canada’s passage to the quarter finals of the 1991 Tournament when Charron played in three of their four games, including their 29-13 defeat by defending champions New Zealand in the last eight.
The highs ...
“That was a good time for Canadian rugby,” enthused Charron, who made his debut for the Canucks against Argentina in March 1990 and retires as his country’s most capped player 13 years later with 76 caps.
“It was a big thing for a country such as Canada where rugby is not as popular to advance and to have done so well against France in our Pool game and then to play New Zealand in that quarter final game.
“It was a memorable World Cup for not only the players, but a lot of Canadian rugby fans back home.”
However for every silver lining there is a darker side, a disappointment … and for Charron that came at Rugby World Cup 1999 when Canada missed out on the chance of a second quarter final appearance.
“At the 1999 World Cup we certainly should have done better than we did and certainly had a chance to advance,” recalled Charron, who scored four tries in his 12 Rugby World Cup appearances.
... and the lows
“We handled Namibia quite easily but we should have beaten, well we could have beaten Fiji. We were ahead in the game late in the first half and gave up two tries in very short order and they went on to control the game and control the score for the rest of the game.
“That was a disappointing loss for us, as was losing to France because France, as well as they did later in the Tournament by beating the All Blacks and going to the final, were not at the top of their game when we played them in the first game of the Pool.
“For teams like Canada, if we are going to beat countries like France we have to play at our very best and there is that possibility, well France were not their best on their day, unfortunately neither were we so we weren’t up to the task of beating them.
“The possibility certainly existed there, but we were just not the team we could have been or should have been on the day.
“So we left that World Cup having not advanced with the very good chance that we could have and that was a disappointment to us, knowing that there was that possibility.”
Welsh disappointment
Charron, who has been left with a very painful and swollen mouth after having 16 stitches in cuts sustained in a tackle which knocked him out late in the Tongan victory, was equally unhappy with Canada’s performance against Wales this time around.
“It is the Welsh game that is probably the biggest disappointment, we were leading 3-0 after 20 minutes and doing well and then unfortunately things kind of fell apart,” explained Charron.
“We started missing tackles and not executing plays, dropping balls and that was disappointing for us because that was the game we had targeted and we were beaten and well beaten on the day and that was a huge, huge disappointment to the team and to the fans back in Canada.”
The veteran forward, at 37 the oldest player involved in Rugby World Cup 2003, will unquestionably be missed by the Canadian team, not least for his experience and influence as they build for the next Tournament in four years time.
Canada's 'heartbeat'
Outgoing coach David Clark spoke for many when, with his captain heading to hospital after the Tonga game, he summed up Charron’s contribution to the Canadian team over the last decade with: “I’ve said many times he is the heartbeat of the team.”
However in the eyes of Charron, he simply doesn’t deserve all these plaudits.
“Well I don’t consider myself one of the key players [for Canada], I am one of the guys who just go and do the best I can. I am not the most talented guy in the team and never have been,” insisted Charron.
“The guys around me are very good and I hope I add to their play and hopefully things will go well, but there are so many talented players that are playing now for Canada and have played for Canada .
“I am just lucky enough to have played with them and for whatever reason I get accolades for this and that and most of the time it is not deserved, but it is something that is special and nice to hear.
“I don’t really believe in a lot of the press that is written about me.”