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Djustice Sears-Duru has been roped into the Canada ‘A’ squad to play Ulster Ravens on Friday. After making his Glasgow Warriors debut in a pre-season match against Harlequins just days ago, the 22-year-old prop will fill in for his country for the day. Also joining the team is loose forward Travis Larsen, who joins from a season with Italian club Petrarca Padova. Larsen replaces injured Ollie Nott on the roster.
Canada coach Mark Anscombe has made wholesale changes, retaining only five players from the starting team that lost to Doncaster on Saturday. Alex Mascott and Cody McClary join Sears-Duru in the front row, with Conor Keys and Lucas Albornoz in at lock. It’s an unusual move for Albornoz, typically a loose forward, with Kyle Baillie instead listed on the flank. Matt Heaton starts in place of Nott at openside.
Gordon McRorie slides out from scrumhalf to flyhalf with Dan Joyce getting the nod at no9, and it’s a very youthful midfield pairing with Guiseppe du Toit and Sam Hayward running out. Jordan Wilson-Ross moves to fullback to form an all-Ontario back three with Kainoa Lloyd getting his first start in Canadian colors and Dan Moor retained on the left wing.
The Ravens field a very young team composed almost entirely of Ulster Academy players. Kyle McCall captains the side with 25 senior Ulster appearances to his name, with no8 Stephen Mulholland the only other player in the group with any senior caps at all. New signing Kieran Treadwell, who arrives from Harlequins, and 2015 Ireland u20 lock Alex Thompson form an imposing second row duo. A number of Ireland u20 graduates are present, including 2016 World Rugby u20 Championship finalists Adam McBurney and Johnny McPhillips.
Kickoff is set for 5:15pm (9:15am PT, 12:15pm ET) local time at Kingspan Stadium in the first of two matches on the day. Ulster’s senior side takes on Northampton Saints immediately following.
ULSTER RAVENS
1 Kyle McCall (capt.) 2 Zack McCall 3 Craig Trenier 4 Kieran Treadwell 5 Alex Thompson 6 Nick Timoney 7 Conall Boomer 8 Stephen Mulholland 9 Angus Lloyd 10 Johnny McPhillips 11 Aaron Cairns 12 Rory Butler 13 Mark Best 14 Conor Kelly 15 David Busby
Reserves: Adam McBurney, Tommy O’Hagan, Michael Lagan, Peter Cooper, Alistair Burke, Aaron Hall, Marcus Rea, Jonny Stewart, Andy Magrath, Conor Field
CANADA ‘A’
1 Djustice Sears-Duru 2 Alex Mascott 3 Cody McClary 4 Conor Keys 5 Lucas Albornoz 6 Kyle Baillie 7 Matt Heaton 8 Admir Cejvanovic 9 Dan Joyce 10 Gordon McRorie (capt.) 11 Dan Moor 12 Guiseppe du Toit 13 Sam Hayward 14 Kainoa Lloyd 15 Jordan Wilson-Ross
Reserves: Eric Howard, Peter Houlihan, Anthony Luca, Ryan Kotlewski, Adrian Wadden, Nanyak Dala, Travis Larsen, Patrick Parfrey, Doug Fraser, Mozac Samson, Aidan McMullan
