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It doesn’t get any tougher for Canada as they open their 2017 Americas Pacific Challenge tournament against the defending champion Argentina XV. While the majority of the Pumas traveling squad for the November tests has already been decided, there is a great deal on the line for the Canadians with a new senior men’s coach in Kingsley Jones to impress and spots very much up for grabs both for the Māori game and the European tour.
Felipe Contepomi has named a formidable lineup in the opener that mixes fringe Jaguares players and recent Pumitas graduates. Lautaro Bavaro leads from his usual flank position with the imposing figure of Santiago Portillo at the back of the scrum. Santiago Medrano looks to continue his surge towards future Pumas honors as does highly promising second row Franco Molina.
A surprise midfield pairing sees last year’s u20 combination Santiago Mare and Juan Cruz Mallía handed a start, with star-in-the-making Bautista Delguy set to wreak havoc from fullback. Sebastián Cancelliere has been handed the first opportunity at scrumhalf and joins Juan Cruz González to form a very dangerous halfback partnership.
Getting the first crack at hooker for Canada is France native Martial Lagain, who joins the vastly experienced Hubert Buydens and u20 standout Cole Keith in an interesting front row. Kyle Gilmour returns to the red jersey for the first time in 18 months as he captains from the flank, and Travis Larsen looks to impress from No 8.
Andrew Ferguson, Paddy Parfrey, and Guiseppe du Toit reprise their Ontario Arrows roles in the inside backs with Mike Nieuwenhuysen tabbed to punch holes from outside centre. Conor Desmond wears the Maple Leaf for the first time and Atlantic Rock duo Brett Johnson and Aidan McMullan, another u20 star, act as strike runners from out wide.
Kickoff is set for 2:00pm local time, 1:00pm Eastern. A live stream will be provided by World Rugby.
ARGENTINA XV
1 Felipe Arregui, 2 Gaspar Baldunciel, 3 Santiago Medrano, 4 Franco Molina, 5 Juan Cruz Guillemaín, 6 Mariano Romanini, 7 Lautaro Bavaro (capt.), 8 Santiago Portillo, 9 Sebastián Cancelliere, 10 Juan Cruz González, 11 Franco Cuaranta, 12 Santiago Mare, 13 Juan Cruz Mallía, 14 Germán Schulz, 15 Bautista Delguy
Replacements: 16 Axel Zapata, 17 Franco Brarda, 18 Benjamín Espinal, 19 Ignacio Larrague, 20 Rodrigo Bruni, 21 Nicolás Cantarutti, 22 Juan Cappiello, 23 Rodrigo Etchart
CANADA ‘A’
1 Hubert Buydens, 2 Martial Lagain, 3 Cole Keith, 4 Adrian Wadden, 5 Conor Keys, 6 Kyle Gilmour (capt.), 7 Lucas Rumball, 8 Travis Larsen, 9 Andrew Ferguson, 10 Patrick Parfrey, 11 Brett Johnson, 12 Guiseppe du Toit, 13 Mike Nieuwenhuysen, 14 Conor Desmond, 15 Aidan McMullan
Replacements: 16 Eric Howard, 17 Rob Brouwer, 18 Ryan Kotlewski, 19 Liam Chisholm, 20 Dustin Dobravsky, 21 Jorden Sandover-Best, 22 Robbie Povey, 23 Kainoa Lloyd
Date: Saturday, October 7
Venue: Estadio Charrúa, Montevideo
Kickoff: 14:00 local (13:00 ET, 10:00 PT)
Referee: Francisco González (URU)
Broadcasts: Facebook Stream, World Rugby Stream
