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Two teams coming off one-sided defeats last weekend will be focused on turning things around on Saturday as Canada host Russia at Twin Elm Park. It’s a rematch of the same contest from two years ago, only in a different venue and with completely different rosters – only five Canadian players return and seven Russians.
Canada coach Kingsley Jones has changed half the team after falling heavily to Scotland in Edmonton. Most notable are the absentees of captain DTH van der Merwe, ruled out with a calf injury, and scrumhalf Phil Mack, who has returned to his club side in Seattle. Meanwhile Tyler Ardron has now been ruled out of the entire June series leaving Canada short of three more of their senior players.
Lucas Rumball will captain the side for the first time. He shifts to openside flank with Dustin Dobravsky selected at blindside and Matt Heaton dropping to the bench. Josh Larsen returns at lock, and 21-year-old Cole Keith will start his first test at tighthead prop. Ryan Kotlewski is named as backup.
A new halfback pairing sees Andrew Ferguson and Theo Sauder getting the nod, the latter starting for the first time after making his debut as a replacement last week. Cole Davis fills in for van der Merwe on the wing and Brock Staller replaces Patrick Parfrey at fullback. Doug Fraser is fit to play at outside centre having recovered from the illness that saw him a late scratch against Scotland.
Shane O’Leary is dropped to the bench and Guiseppe du Toit is named as a midfield reserve. UBC Old Boys scrumhalf Jorden Sandover-Best is set to debut as a replacement. He traveled with the Canada ‘A’ side to Uruguay for the Americas Pacific Challenge last year and just a few weeks ago inspired the Ravens to a Rounsefell Cup title.
Only four changes are seen in the Russian side. Andrei Garbuzov rotates with Evgeny Elgin at lock and Dmitri Krotov replaces Tagir Gadzhiev on the blindside flank. Alexei Shcherban is recalled at scrumhalf to form a vastly experienced combination with newly-minted centurion Yuri Kushnarev, and imposing midfielder Kirill Golosnitskiy comes in for Dmitri Gerasimov at outside centre.
The two sides have met in four previous tests, Canada winning all four. In 2016 Canada routed the Russians by 46-21 but his match is unlikely to be so disparate. Canada are at a significant disadvantage in experience and the Russians, while disappointing in Denver, will fancy their chances in the moderate Ottawa climate against a side severely weakened by absentees.
Up front the sides look well matched but the halfbacks lean heavily towards Russia – with just 10 caps between the Canadian duo – and in Golosnitskiy the Bears have a potent attacker capable of bending the gainline. Canada will depend on youthful exuberance and home field advantage to get the result. The Russians are the higher-ranked of the two but the favorites tag should go to Canada by a whisker based on historical precedent.
Kickoff is set for 4pm local time, 1pm Pacific. A local broadcast will be available on Rogers Ottawa, with live streams available on Rugby Canada’s Facebook page and the Rugby Russia site.
CANADA
1 Noah Barker, 2 Ray Barkwill, 3 Cole Keith, 4 Josh Larsen, 5 Evan Olmstead, 6 Dustin Dobravsky, 7 Lucas Rumball (capt.), 8 Luke Campbell, 9 Andrew Ferguson, 10 Theo Sauder, 11 Cole Davis, 12 Nick Blevins, 13 Doug Fraser, 14 Jeff Hassler, 15 Brock Staller
Replacements: 16 Eric Howard, 17 Djustice Sears-Duru, 18 Ryan Kotlewski, 19 Conor Keys, 20 Matt Heaton, 21 Jorden Sandover-Best, 22 Shane O’Leary, 23 Guiseppe du Toit
RUSSIA
1 Valeri Morozov, 2 Stanislav Selskiy, 3 Evgeny Pronenko, 4 Bogdan Fedotko, 5 Andrei Garbuzov, 6 Nikita Vavilin, 7 Dmitri Krotov, 8 Anton Rudoi, 9 Alexei Shcherban, 10 Yuri Kushnarev, 11 Alexei Mikhaltsov, 12 Sergei Trishin, 13 Kirill Golosnitskiy, 14 Mikhail Babaev, 15 Vasili Artemiev (capt.)
Replacements: 16 Evgeny Matveev, 17 Sergei Sekisov, 18 Anton Drozdov, 19 Evgeny Elgin, 20 Anton Sychev, 21 Vasili Dorofeev, 22 Alexander Budychenko, 23 German Godlyuk
Date: Saturday, June 16
Venue: Twin Elm Park, Ottawa
Kickoff: 16:00 local (13:00 Pacific)
Referee: Ben Whitehouse (WRU)
Assistants: George Clancy (IRFU) & Alex Ruiz (FFR)
TMO: Graham Hughes (RFU)
Broadcasts: Rogers Ottawa, Facebook, Rugby Russia
