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It all comes down to Saturday for a guaranteed spot in the 2019 Rugby World Cup. The winner will go through as the Americas 1 qualifier, the loser must face off with Uruguay in another home-and-away battle early in the new year. Projections of a close battle between the two could not have been more accurate in the first match last weekend with a 28-all final score in Hamilton making the match in San Diego one of the winner-take-all variety.
Having run out their strongest side of the year in the first match Canada have opted for effectively no changes, with the only alteration in the lineup coming at scrumhalf. Gordon McRorie will start at No 9 with Phil Mack unavailable to make the trip south. Andrew Ferguson comes onto the bench. Reserve hooker Benoît Pifféro has shaken off a slight knock suffered last week to retain his spot on the bench.
Not satisfied with the results at Tim Hortons Field, the Eagles have made a handful of changes to their lineup. Chris Baumann returns from injury to start at tighthead prop and Nate Brakeley is recalled to the second row. Paddy Ryan and Ben Landry miss out completely. Tony Lamborn is back at openside flank with John Quill shifted to the bench to make room. Joe Taufete’e is also back in the picture albeit as one of the replacements.
The halfbacks and midfield are left intact but there are two changes to the outside backs. Ryan Matyas has recovered from illness to take the spot of Matai Leuta on the left wing and there is an interesting change at fullback with Madison Hughes recalled at the expense of Ben Cima. The Eagles 7s captain has been short of fitness in the weeks preceding and this will be his first involvement with the test side since the European tour last November.
Correcting problems in the scrum and shutting down the threat of DTH van der Merwe will have been key discussions at Eagles training sessions this week. The return of key players Baumann and Lamborn will boost the pack and there will be no shortage of passion from captain Todd Clever in his final match for the USA in his home state of California.
Canada meanwhile will be pleased with the effort overall having been largely seen as underdogs heading into the series, but will be bitterly disappointed not to come away with the win at home after squandering numerous scoring opportunities. With no further reinforcements to call upon it will be up to the same squad to lift their game in the southern humidity.
Look for another close match in San Diego, with goal-kicking accuracy again certain to play part. AJ MacGinty was on song for the Eagles in Hamilton while McRorie will take over the points kicking for Canada from Shane O’Leary this week. Any missed chances could come back to haunt them. With the prospect of extra-time looming should the two sides still be level at full-time, the final quarter will decide who can start their Japanese lessons early and who will face several more months of nervous uncertainty.
CANADA
1 Djustice Sears-Duru, 2 Ray Barkwill, 3 Jake Ilnicki, 4 Brett Beukeboom (co-capt.), 5 Evan Olmstead, 6 Admir Cejvanovic, 7 Matt Heaton, 8 Tyler Ardron, 9 Gordon McRorie, 10 Shane O’Leary, 11 Taylor Paris, 12 Connor Braid, 13 DTH van der Merwe (co-capt.), 14 Andrew Coe, 15 Ciaran Hearn
Replacements: 16 Benoît Pifféro, 17 Anthony Luca, 18 Matt Tierney, 19 Kyle Baillie, 20 Aaron Carpenter, 21 Andrew Ferguson, 22 Nick Blevins, 23 Dan Moor
USA
1 Anthony Purpura, 2 James Hilterbrand, 3 Chris Baumann, 4 Nate Brakeley, 5 Nick Civetta, 6 Todd Clever (capt.), 7 Tony Lamborn, 8 Cam Dolan, 9 Nate Augspurger, 10 AJ MacGinty, 11 Ryan Matyas, 12 Marcel Brache, 13 Bryce Campbell, 14 Mike Te’o, 15 Madison Hughes
Replacements: 16 Joe Taufete’e, 17 Ben Tarr, 18 Dino Waldren, 19 David Tameilau, 20 John Quill, 21 Andrew Durutalo, 22 Shaun Davies, 23 Will Magie
Date: Saturday, July 1
Venue: Torero Stadium, San Diego
Kickoff: 15:00 local (18:00 ET)
Referee: Andrew Brace (IRFU)
Assistants: Ben Whitehouse (RFU) & Shuhei Kubo (JRFU)
TMO: Sean Davey (RFU)
Broadcasts: TSN, The Rugby Channel, World Rugby
