No Paris for Canada in World Cup

Canada have announced their 31 players to travel to England for the upcoming World Cup. Doncaster second row pair Tyler Hotson and Jon Phelan have not been included, while prop Tom Dolezel and wing Taylor Paris are ruled out with injury.

Agen winger Paris re-injured his groin in the dying moments of the match against the US Eagles in Ottawa on the weekend, a terrible blow to the team after he had delivered a man-of-the-match performance and scored a try. Canada will instead turn to Phil Mackenzie to fill the gap, with DTH van der Merwe another option if he is not used in the midfield.

Dolezel suffered a broken arm in training just prior to the Pacific Nations Cup, and has not recovered sufficiently to take part. It is a bitter blow to the Ontario Blues loosehead, whose form in the Pacific Challenge put him in pole position for a spot in the World Cup.

The return of veterans Jebb Sinclair and Jamie Cudmore to the side meant that there was room for only two other second rows, with Brett Beukeboom and newcomer Evan Olmstead preferred to Hotson and Phelan. They will instead return to Doncaster, but may yet be called upon to fill in with both Sinclair and Cudmore heading to the tournament with lingering fitness issues.

Cudmore is now set to play in his fourth World Cup campaign, joining Gareth Rees, Al Charron, Rod Snow, and Mike James as the only Canadian players to do so. Dave Lougheed also traveled to four, but did not make an appearance at the 1991 tournament.

Tyler Ardron is fit to resume the captaincy after taking a knock to the knee against Samoa, and Jason Marshall is also present despite the prop having yet to appear in a test this year after battling a back injury. Former skipper Aaron Carpenter – acting captain for the last two matches – and Scarlets-bound van der Merwe are each headed to their third World Cup.

Canada host the Glasgow Warriors in Halifax on Saturday before departing for England, where they will play Georgia and Fiji in their remaning warm-up fixtures. They are joined in Pool D of the World Cup by Ireland, Italy, France, and Romania.

FORWARDS
Hubert Buydens (Castaway Wanderers), Jason Marshall (Agen) Djustice Sears-Duru (Oakville Crusaders), Andrew Tiedemann (Plymouth Albion), Doug Wooldridge (Lindsay), Ray Barkwill (Castaway Wanderers), Aaron Carpenter (Cornish Pirates), Benoît Pifféro (Blagnac), Brett Beukeboom (Plymouth Albion), Jamie Cudmore (Clermont), Evan Olmstead (Parramatta), Jebb Sinclair (London Irish), Tyler Ardron (capt., Ospreys), Nanyak Dala (Castaway Wanderers), Kyle Gilmour (St. Albert), John Moonlight (James Bay), Richard Thorpe (London Welsh)

BACKS
Phil Mack (James Bay), Jamie Mackenzie (UVic Vikes), Gordon McRorie (Calgary Hornets), Nathan Hirayama (UVic Vikes), Liam Underwood (Balmy Beach), Nick Blevins (Calgary Hornets), Connor Braid (Glasgow Warriors), Ciaran Hearn (Castaway Wanderers), Conor Trainor (UBCOB Ravens), Jeff Hassler (Ospreys), Phil Mackenzie (Sale Sharks), DTH van der Merwe (Glasgow Warriors), Matt Evans (Cornish Pirates), Harry Jones (Capilano)