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When Connor Braid last took the field for Canada it was at the Rugby World Cup.

That’s about all we can say.

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His tournament was over almost before it started, you may recal. He broke his jaw just minutes into his first game of the 2015 event, versus Italy.

“I thought my 13 minutes were pretty good,” the 26-year-old said with a chuckle over the phone earlier this month.

He stuck around with the team for the remainder of the tournament, but then he put himself into a bit of a self-imposed rugby exile.

This weekend versus Ireland in Dublin (11 a.m., CBC), he could make his national-team return.

“I was a little burnt out,” he said. “I was cattle for a while. After I got hurt, I realized I wanted to focus on getting my life after rugby going.”

Photo by Jan Kruger / Getty Images

The three seasons leading into the RWC were very much about the vagabond’s life. First, there was half a season playing for the Doncaster Knights in England’s second tier Championship. Then a season of sevens in 2013-14, helping the national men’s squad to a best-ever sixth-place finish on the Sevens World Series.

His form for Canada then won him an unusual dual contract scenario, splitting 2014-15 between the Glasgow Warriors and London Scottish.

He was living what should have been a rugby dream, but Braid said it felt too much like a chore.