Be it ever so humble, or under construction, there’s no place like home.

The clamour of jackhammers and bulldozers never sounded so sweet. Even with Westhills Stadium in a bit of upheaval amidst an upgrade to eventually 6,000 seats, the Canadian rugby team is happy to be home for the first time since playing in Marseille, France, Montevideo, Uruguay, and Sao Paulo, Brazil, in a wide world footprint since the fall.

article continues below

“It’s great to be back on Canadian soil and we’re just excited to get in front of a Canadian crowd again,” said flanker Lucas Rumball, who will captain Canada against Chile tonight at 7 at Westhills.

“Canadian crowds are always electric and give us that extra degree of fight and physicality as an uplift. I know we always have that in Langford.”

It will be much needed.

“Home Tests in rugby are so critical for us, because on the road, we play so far away that our fans can’t follow us there,” said Canadian head coach Kingsley Jones.

“There are a lot of good rugby fans in Canada and we want to put on a good show for them [tonight].”

Both Canada and Chile are 0-2 in the Americas Rugby Championship. The tight recent road losses, to Uruguay at the final whistle and massive 18-10 upset by Brazil, were certainly a letdown in the ARC for Canada. That is particularly so after the Canadian high of beating Kenya, Germany and Hong Kong to win the last-chance qualifier at Marseille in November to earn the 20th and final berth into the 2019 World Cup this fall in Japan.

“It’s obviously not the way we wanted to start the Americas Championship,” said Rumball.

The two ARC losses were symbolized by the widely shown highlight reel blooper in Brazil of a Canadian lateral pass that bonked off a teammate’s head.

“You have to laugh at yourselves sometimes,” said Rumball.

But Canada is adamant that time is now over. There is still all to play for, especially for players on the bubble, who are getting their chance in the ARC with several of Canada’s top players unavailable because of overseas pro club commitments.

“We’re looking for guys to put their hands up [for spots on the team to the World Cup],” said Rumball.

“We need that competition in this country if we are to get better. If you are not motivated to play for your national team, then you are in the wrong spot.”

You will get no argument from Canada’s bench boss.

“We need to be more accurate and composed, and we need a lot of young guys ready to put their hands up for the World Cup,” said Jones, a former Welsh international.

“Chile will be full of fire. But the biggest challenge we face is in ourselves.”

A big Canadian advantage tonight could be the winter weather. Chile has travelled up from what is their equivalent of our August.

“This is our summer, so it’s a pretty big change for us,” said Chile captain Martin Sigren, from the Old Boys club of Santiago.

“But we got here five days before the game to get used to it. And Chile has cold winters, too, so every one of our players has played in cold weather before.”

Chile, which did not qualify for the World Cup, is ranked No. 29. Canada, which is ranked No. 21, is 5-0 all-time against Chile.

Canada closes out the home portion of the ARC next Friday at Westhills Stadium against Argentina XV. Tickets for both the Chile and Argentina XV games will be available at the gate. Both games will be broadcast live on TSN5.

Rugby Canada has had to contend with not only the stadium construction — to get the Langford facility ready for future rugby Tests and also Pacific FC of the pro soccer Canadian Premier League — but also a layer of remaining snow that had to be ploughed off the Westhills Stadium pitch this week.

“The amount of snow removed was significant . . . it was a big task,” said Dustin Hopkins, Rugby Canada interim general-manager.

Canada closes out the ARC against the U.S. on March 8 in Seattle. That’s a grudge match in the wake of the U.S. drubbing of Canada in the direct North American qualifier for the 2019 World Cup in 2017 at San Diego.

cdheensaw@timescolonist.com