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Peñarol is set to become Canada’s favorite Super Rugby Americas (SRA) franchise. The Uruguayan team is bringing in four Canadians and they are set to begin training at the Uruguayan High Performance Rugby Headquarters, the Estadio Charrúa on Tuesday.
The four players are:
- Noah Flesh
- Foster Dewitt
- Ethan Fryer
- James Thiel
Noah Flesh is a 23-year-old back who plays center. He makes the move to Peñarol in Uruguay after having been capped eight times by Canada and is formerly of the Chicago Hounds in Major League Rugby (MLR).
Foster Dewitt is a 30-year-old front-rower. He can play both loose head prop and hooker. Dewitt has six text caps for Canada and also does so from MLR. He played for the New England Free Jacks.
Ethan Fryer plays flanker. The 23-year-old has five test caps for the Canadian Men’s team. Like Dewitt, he makes the move to Montevideo after previously playing for the New England Free Jacks in MLR.
James Thiel is uncapped. The 23-year-old plays fullback and is being monitored for a potential opportunity for Canada at Rugby World Cup 2027. Fryer joins Peñarol from Pacific Pride.
ARN understands that the recruitment comes at the request of World Rugby. The Canadians arrive not long after Zimbabwean Dion Khumalo joined Os Cobras for the SRA season. Khumalo debuted for Os Cobras against Peñarol on Friday.
The signing of the four Canadian players comes during a complicated time period for North American rugby. The 2026 MLR season contains six teams. This is so following the Utah Warriors, Miami Sharks, NOLA Gold, Houston SaberCats all pulling-out of MLR and with San Diego and Los Angeles merging to form the California Legion.
Canada does not have any professional rugby teams. The Toronto Arrows competed in the MLR from 2019-2023 but the franchise’s exit resulted in fewer opportunities for Canadian players in MLR. It has been dramatically reduced with the aforementioned teams departing the league before the upcoming season in addition to policy changes that have seen the MLR reducing places for foreigners.
The Unión de Rugby del Uruguay (URU) is now playing a helping hand for Rugby Canada by bringing in four Canadian players. Flesh, Dewitt, Fryer and Thiel will experience Uruguay’s High Performance system and play run an expanding league with matches officiated in the Spanish language.
