Al Charron is a former Canadian

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 rugby union

Rugby union

Rugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand...

 footballer. He played at back-row forward

Loose forward

Loose forward may refer to playing positions in both rugby football sports:* Rugby league positions, in rugby league football* Rugby union positions, in rugby union football...

 and was capped

Cap (sport)

In sports, a cap is a metaphorical term for a player's appearance on a select team, such as a national team. The term dates from the practice in the United Kingdom of awarding a cap to every player in an international match of association football...

 80 times for the Canadian national team, the Canucks

Canada national rugby union team

The Canada national rugby union team represents Canada in international rugby union. They are governed by Rugby Canada, and play in red and black. Canada is classified by the International Rugby Board as a tier two rugby nation. There are ten tier one nations, and seven tier two nations, the...

. He played club rugby for Ottawa, Bristol and Pau

Section Paloise

Section Paloise is a French rugby union club from Pau in Pyrénées-Atlantiques currently competing in Rugby Pro D2, the second level of the French league system.-History:...

 and Dax

US Dax

Union Sportive Dacquoise, also known as US Dax, is a French rugby union club currently playing in Rugby Pro D2, the second level of the French league system....

 and also Moseley

Moseley Rugby Football Club

Moseley Rugby Football Club is an English rugby union club, based at Billesley Common in Birmingham, that competes in the RFU Championship. The club was historically the premier rugby club in Birmingham, reaching the final of the John Player Cup three times in the late 1970s and early 1980s...

 in England.

Charron was a favourite with the supporters of many of the European clubs he played for. While playing with Bristol he was voted the supporters' Player of the Season for 1998/99 and was awarded the BBC West

BBC Points West

BBC Points West is the BBC's regional news programme for the West of England, covering Bristol, Gloucestershire, Somerset and Wiltshire...

 Rugby Player of the Year award in 1999.

Charron was a vital member of the highly-regarded Canadian forward pack that did so well at the 1991 Rugby World Cup

1991 Rugby World Cup

The 1991 Rugby World Cup was the second edition of the Rugby World Cup, and was jointly hosted by England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland and France; at that time, the five European countries that participated in the Five Nations Championship making it the first Rugby World Cup to be staged in the...

, defeating Fiji and Romania and giving both France and New Zealand a hard time. He was the only Ontario player on the field against New Zealand, the others all coming from British Columbia. He scored a famous try to defeat Wales

Wales national rugby union team

The Wales national rugby union team represent Wales in international rugby union tournaments. They compete annually in the Six Nations Championship with England, France, Ireland, Italy and Scotland. Wales have won the Six Nations and its predecessors 24 times outright, second only to England with...

 at Cardiff Arms Park

Cardiff Arms Park

Cardiff Arms Park , also known as The Arms Park, is primarily known as a rugby union stadium, but it also has a bowling green, and is situated in the centre of Cardiff, Wales. The Arms Park was host to the British Empire and Commonwealth Games in 1958, and hosted four games in the 1991 Rugby World...

 in autumn 1993. That day he was playing out of his usual flank position, packing down in the second row for an injured Norm Hadley

Norm Hadley

Norman Hadley is a former professional rugby union player."Stormin' Norman" was a massive 6 foot 7", 21-stone lock. He played professionally first for London Wasps and then Bedford Blues in the 1990s. In Canada he played for James Bay and UBCOB Ravens . He earned an M.B.A...

.

Noted for recovering from severe knee

Knee

The knee joint joins the thigh with the leg and consists of two articulations: one between the fibula and tibia, and one between the femur and patella. It is the largest joint in the human body and is very complicated. The knee is a mobile trocho-ginglymus , which permits flexion and extension as...

 damage to participate in the 2003 Rugby World Cup as the captain of Canada, his fourth Rugby World Cup tournament. He became only the second international rugby union player of any country to do so, the other being former team-mate and previous Canadian captain Gareth Rees.

Charron retired from international rugby union on Canada's defeat of Tonga

Tonga national rugby union team

The Tonga national rugby union team is nicknamed Ikale Tahi . Like their Polynesian neighbours, the Tongans start their matches with a war dance – the Kailao . They are members of the Pacific Islands Rugby Alliance along with Fiji and Samoa...

in the 2003 Rugby World Cup pool match.