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Canada released their Pacific Nations Cup training roster late this week without much fanfare. That in itself is no real surprise, it’s been their modus operandi for years, certainly throughout Kieran Crowley’s tenure. It did seem a little odd, however, that it was delayed for so long following the CRC, and in particular since the players themselves had been in camp for several days already. The announcement, in that regard, seems almost an afterthought.
On the squad itself, there are no great surprises. All the top professionals who were expected to be there are present, bar Jamie Cudmore, Jebb Sinclair, and Jake Ilnicki. The latter is in Australia finishing up a stint with Eastern Suburbs and will be arriving in country later this week. Sinclair is recovering from some damage accrued during the Aviva Premiership season with London Irish, and is aiming to be ready for the August 22 match in Ottawa. Nanyak Dala is another temporary casualty, banged up during the CRC, and looks to be in the same boat as Sinclair.
Cudmore’s return is less certain, though recent reports in the French media that he is out of the World Cup should be taken with a grain of salt. The big second row suffered two concussions at the tail end of Clermont’s season and has been out of action since. This is not out of the ordinary, he is taking all precautions and following the return-to-play protocol, as any professional player does following a head injury. He will be returning to Clermont’s training camp this week to undergo his next set of benchmark tests, after which we will have a better idea of where he is at. He won’t be in the PNC, but he was always due to be rested for it anyway.
Also absent during the camp, and likely to be out of the first game of the PNC anyway, are Canada’s sevens players currently in Toronto at the Pan Am Games. It’s yet another conflict between the two sides, and hopefully we are nearing the end of such issues, with both programs set to expend dramatically next season set to make it virtually impossible to do double duty. That issue will certainly be high on new GM Jim Dixon’s list of things to deal with.
The big battles within the squad look to be primarily in the tight five. Six props are in camp, with Ilnicki’s arrival to make seven, and there is only room for five on the plane to the World Cup. While incumbents Hubert Buydens and Jason Marshall are the clear front runners to continue, it will be interesting to see what value Crowley and forwards coach Neil Barnes put on the scrum. Marshall has had some trouble there in recent times, while Doug Wooldridge looks to be in destructive form.
Even more loaded is the second row, with seven players included, and that’s not counting Cudmore or Sinclair. None of the other options have as yet nailed down a spot beside Cudmore, so the competition should be fierce, with at most four of the group set to travel. Of the newer players, Evan Olmstead and Cameron Pierce in particular look ready to give the veterans a run for their money. Both have size and athleticism on their side to go with youthful vigor. Whoever makes the final cut, there will be three or four very disappointed players.
Speaking of which, it would be remiss not to mention those that have not been included, and indeed recognize that few, if any, seem to have been selected based on CRC form. This late in the hour one would expect most of the spots to be pre-determined, and given the severely truncated version of this year’s competition it was always going to be difficult to get in the door, but you have to feel for some players who have given all they could.
Andrew Ferguson might be wondering what he has to do to get some respect from the selectors after impressing once again, and yet again being overlooked in favour of Jamie Mackenzie. That’s not to say Mackenzie is a bad player, far from it, but on form it seems hard to argue that Ferguson has not looked the brighter of the two over the last two seasons. Surely there was a case for both to attend.
Another notable absentee is Chauncey O’Toole, the Rock flanker who reminded us of his class during the week in Calgary. While he has been away from top level rugby in recent months, one would have thought that his international experience and obvious x-factor would be enough to at least get him an invite to camp, particularly with Dala’s injury and the retirement of Adam Kleeberger.
By far the most egregious name not on the list is that of Mozac Samson. The Wolf Pack centre could not have done more to put his hand up. Five tries in two games and easily the standout three quarter of the competition, yet no phone call. Pack head coach Graeme Moffat was predictably diplomatic when asked about his midfielder’s exclusion.
“Mozac had a good championship but has had an unfortunate run of injuries in recent years and has not played a whole lot of rugby. I am sure if this was the ARC squad and not the World Cup squad he would have been in with a shout.”
And yet therein lies the problem. There was no ARC this year, and the CRC was being billed as a last opportunity for players to crack into the senior side. If that was not the case, what was the point? Nobody would have been upset had two or three standouts been invited to the camp and not made the final squad. At the very least they deserved to have a shot. It’s not catastrophic or any kind of conspiracy, but it does feel disingenuous, and that is the disappointing part.
In that sense the excitement of the build up to the PNC, and ultimately the World Cup, has been muted ever so slightly. It might be splitting hairs about fringe players who most likely would have been reserves, but if the national team fails to recognize its own player pathway it makes prospective internationals wonder what their route to the top really is.
That’s the management’s issue, however, and the task now is to get behind the players who have been included. Canada have a strong group with real competition for starting spots, and will come very close to fielding a fully professional first string side. On paper it is an upgrade from the 2011 team, and potentially the strongest since 1999, when names like Rees and Charron were still wearing the jersey in the last vestiges of the amateur days.
The PNC will be about finding key combinations quickly, and then refining them in the warm-up matches. Then it’s into the big show. These next three months will be a hard slog – physically and emotionally – for all involved, but we wouldn’t have it any other way. It’s why we play, why we watch, and why we cheer.
