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The stage is set for the last day of the 2016 Johnsonville Canadian Rugby Championship with the title very much up for grabs and three possible winners. Starting off Sunday’s entertainment is a tilt between the defending champions and the upstarts as the Wolf Pack take on the Rock in St. John’s. The winner of the match will put themselves in pole position to lift the MacTier Cup but will have to wait for the result of the game in Ontario before being potentially crowned kings.
Following their big win over the Bears on Thursday, the Rock have made only two changes to the match day side. Mike Hamson arrives to bolster an already impressive back row, with Matt Murphy the unlucky one moving to the bench. At scrumhalf Jamie Mackenzie gets his first start in a Rock shirt swapping places with Tony Pomroy. The bench sees a 6-2 split with Paddy McNicholas pulling out injured during the warm-up in Thursday’s match and Brett Johnson also dropping out before the match.
A fresh set of forwards is rolled out by Graeme Moffat with all five changes to the Wolf Pack coming up front. John Braddock, Matt Harrison, and Nick McAuley trade places with Thursday’s starting front row a little weary in the legs. One youngster comes in for another as 21-year-old Connor Sorensen starts in place of 20-year-old Conor Turner in the second row. The abrasive Grant Crowell is given a chance to start on the flank against his old Rock teammates, with Nanyak Dala again left as an impact sub.
This should be a fierce contest worthy of a final. Crowell’s selection and the changes in the tight five suggests that the Pack are expecting a war of attrition. On paper the Atlantic forwards are intimidating but the Prairie side are well drilled and will look to change the point of attack often. Look for this to come down to the wire with Aidan McMullan’s left boot in a kicking duel with Robbie Povey’s right.
The match kicks off at 3pm local time (1:30pm ET) and will be streamed live by Bell Aliant.
ATLANTIC ROCK
1 Frank Walsh 2 Owen Parfrey (capt.) 3 Jordon Power 4 Jon Phelan 5 Brad Lester 6 Zac Coughlan 7 Matt Heaton 8 Mike Hamson 9 Jamie Mackenzie 10 Patrick Parfrey 11 Aidan McMullan 12 Emil Sehic 13 Alex Rogers 14 Bryce Thomassin 15 Jack Fitzpatrick
16 Martial Lagain 17 Alex Forrest 18 Keelan Chapman 19 Chris Browne 20 Conor Keys 21 Matt Murphy 22 Tony Pomroy 23 Dan Lantos
PRAIRIE WOLF PACK
1 John Braddock 2 Matt Harrison 3 Nick McAuley 4 Eric Lopatinsky 5 Connor Sorensen 6 Lucas Albornoz 7 Grant Crowell 8 Clay Panga (capt.) 9 Jake Robinson 10 Robbie Povey 11 Adam Bontus 12 James Buchanan 13 Mozac Samson 14 Conor Desmond 15 Graham Turner
16 Casey Reed 17 Peter Houlihan 18 Ryan Kotlewski 19 Conor Turner 20 Nanyak Dala 21 Jake Bentley 22 Cam Hall 23 Ian Shoults
