Canada women’s rugby coach Kevin Rouet adds side gig with England’s Saracens Women

Prime Minister Mark Carney and wife Diana Fox Carney talk to Canada's head coach Head coach Kevin Rouet after his team's silver medal finish in the Women's Rugby World Cup at Allianz Stadium, the London suburb of Twickenham, U.K., Saturday, Sept. 27, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick

Canadian women’s rugby coach Kevin Rouet is adding to his workload.

Rouet is joining the Saracens Women coaching staff in England, while continuing in his role with second-ranked Canada. Saracens says Rouet will specialize in attack, working alongside Saracens director of rugby Alex Austerberry.

Saracens calls Rouet “one of the most forward thinking coaches in the women’s game.”

The Saracens gig make sense for Rouet on several fronts.

With the Canada women not expected to return to action until the April Pacific Four Series, which also features against No. 3 New Zealand, No. 7 Australia and the eighth-ranked U.S., the French-born Rouet had planned to spend time in Europe where the majority of his talent plays their club rugby.

Saracens, for example, is home to Canadians Sophie de Goede, Alysha Corrigan, Gabby Senft, Julia Omokhuale, Laetitia Royer, Olivia Apps and Paige Farries. The team currently stands second in the nine-team Premiership Women’s Rugby standings at 5-1-0.

Rouet, speaking in October, said he expected some 25 capped Canadians to be playing in the English league this season. Others ply their trade in France.

Rouet, 39, took over the Canadian team in March 2022, when he was elevated from his role of assistant coach. Rugby Canada announced in June that his contract has been extended through the end of 2027.

A former mechanical engineer, Rouet gave up his day job to focus on rugby.

Rouet obtained his master’s degree in engineering from Ecole nationale superieure d’Arts et Métiers (ESNAM), an engineering and research institute of higher education in Paris. He moved to Quebec at 23, earning a master’s degree in project management from the University of Quebec at Rimouski.

Initially, he just planned to spend two years studying in Quebec. But he stayed on after getting a project manager job with Canam Engineering, working in bridge construction.

Some five years into the job, he quit to focus on rugby.

Rouet has won titles throughout his coaching career, lifting trophies with the Quebec senior women’s team, Club de Rugby de Quebec and Laval University women. He also served as an assistant coach with Stade Bordelais in France during the 2021-2022 season.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 11, 2025

Neil Davidson, The Canadian Press