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Kieran Crowley has chopped and changed his lineup to face France on Thursday, with seven switches in total from the team that ran Italy desperately close at Elland Road. Canada will need to manage their resources with another game on the horizon against Romania on Tuesday.
Aaron Carpenter and Brett Beukeboom step into the tight five with Ray Barkwill on the bench and Jebb Sinclair given the day off, while Kyle Gilmour and Richard Thorpe come in on the flanks. Phil Mack replaces Jamie Mackenzie at scrumhalf, and Nick Blevins starts in the no12 jersey in place of Connor Braid, forced to drop out of the tournament with a fractured jaw.
Dala takes Gilmour’s loose forward reserve spot on the bench, with Gordon McRorie bracketed with Jamie Mackenzie as reserve scrumhalf pending a late fitness test. Jake Ilnicki, James Pritchard, and newly added Patrick Parfrey are the only players in the squad yet to be named in a match day roster.
Canada will have to overcome considerable odds to get the win, having only beaten France once, in 1994. Their last meeting came at the 2011 World Cup in New Zealand, losing by a score of 46-19 at McLean Park.
CANADA
1 Hubert Buydens 2 Aaron Carpenter 3 Doug Wooldridge 4 Brett Beukeboom 5 Jamie Cudmore 6 Kyle Gilmour 7 Richard Thorpe 8 Tyler Ardron (capt.) 9 Phil Mack 10 Nathan Hirayama 11 DTH van der Merwe 12 Nick Blevins 13 Ciaran Hearn 14 Phil Mackenzie 15 Matt Evans
16 Ray Barkwill 17 Djustice Sears-Duru 18 Andrew Tiedemann 19 Evan Olmstead 20 Nanyak Dala 21 Gordon McRorie / Jamie Mackenzie 22 Harry Jones 23 Conor Trainor
