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Canada and Uruguay have each named their match day rosters for their first match of the Americas Rugby Championship, to be played on Saturday at Westhills Stadium in Langford. The game will not only serve as a first for several players but for both coaches as well, as Esteban Meneses begins his new post as Head Coach of Los Teros and François Ratier takes charge in an interim capacity for Canada.
The Maple Leafs will lean on an experienced front row including captain Hubert Buydens and World Cup starter Ray Barkwill to set the tone in the forwards. Ontario Blues forwards Paul Ciulini and Lucas Rumball, both part of last year’s national u20 squad, are set to make their test debuts, along with flyhalf Gradyn Bowd, wing Dan Moor, and centre Mozac Samson.
Djustice Sears-Duru is the only capped player among the reserves. Four more Ontario players – hooker Eric Howard, prop Rob Brouwer, openside Alistair Clark, and scrumhalf Andrew Ferguson – are joined by Atlantic Rock duo Kyle Baillie and Mike Hamson, with Wolf Pack winger Duncan Maguire also set to debut.
By contrast, Los Teros field a significantly more experienced side, with only three new caps in total, all found among the reserves. Juan Manuel Gaminara begins his first term as captain, with tighthead prop Juan Echeverría the only starting forwards who not attend the World Cup. Eight players who also lined up in the run-on side against England take their place again, including the entire back row.
Meneses has sprung a slight surprise with Rodrigo Silva at flyhalf ahead of Manuel Blengio. While the no10 jersey is Silva’s favoured position, he has more recently been selected as an outside back, perhaps an indiciation that Uruguay will play a more expansive game than their traditional forward-heavy approach. It is also interesting to note that there are four replacement front row players named for Uruguay, including new caps Facundo Gattas and Rafael Mones. Teenage scrumhalf Santiago Arata is also in line to win his first test cap.
Canada have played Los Teros in test match conditions on eight previous occasions, winning all but one – a 25-23 Uruguay victory at Estadio Saroldi in 2002. The last test was a decisive 48-6 Canada win at neutral venue Infinity Park in 2010. The two sides have competed in previous editions of the ARC between 2012-2014, with Canada winning all three games. Test caps were not awarded in those fixtures.
The match kicks off at 4pm local PST, 7pm EST. It will be streamed live over the internet by Rugby Canada.
CANADA
1 Hubert Buydens (capt.) 2 Ray Barkwill 3 Jake Ilnicki 4 Paul Ciulini 5 Callum Morrison 6 Kyle Gilmour 7 Lucas Rumball 8 Clay Panga 9 Gordon McRorie 10 Gradyn Bowd 11 Dan Moor 12 Nick Blevins 13 Mozac Samson 14 Phil Mackenzie 15 Patrick Parfrey
16 Eric Howard 17 Djustice Sears-Duru 18 Rob Brouwer 19 Kyle Baillie 20 Alistair Clark 21 Mike Hamson 22 Andrew Ferguson 23 Duncan Maguire
URUGUAY
1 Mateo Sanguinetti 2 Carlos Arboleya 3 Juan Echeverría 4 Diego Magno 5 Franco Lamanna 6 Juan Manuel Gaminara (capt.) 7 Matías Beer 8 Alejandro Nieto 9 Guillermo Lijtenstein 10 Rodrigo Silva 11 Gastón Mieres 12 Alberto Román 13 Andrés Vilaseca 14 Leandro Leivas 15 Santiago Martinez
16 Germán Kessler 17 Facundo Gattas 18 Rafaél Mones 19 Rodolfo De Mula 20 Mathias Palomeque 21 Gonzalo Soto 22 Santiago Arata 23 Pedro Deal
Referee: Juan Sylvestre (UAR)
Assistants: David Smortchevsky (RC) & Harry Mason (RC)
