Match Preview – Canada vs Leinster

Canada’s final run-in to the Rugby World Cup begins on Saturday when they host Champions Cup finalists Leinster at Tim Hortons Field in Hamilton. After a winless Pacific Nations Cup campaign, there is precious little time for coach Kingsley Jones to mold his team ahead of the all-important opening match against Italy on September 26.

The team selected is perhaps a window into Jones’ mind as to what he considers his first choice lineup. Eric Howard gets a chance to nail down the vacant hooker spot, with fellow Ottawa-area native Conor Keys handed a start in the second row. The back row is largely predictable with Lucas Rumball getting the nod over Matt Heaton at openside flank.

Gordon McRorie appears to have settled in at scrumhalf after flip-flopping between No9 and No10, with long-time Ulster fullback Peter Nelson again trialed at flyhalf. Phil Mack and Shane O’Leary are forced to wait their turns on the bench. Taylor Paris provides a boost as he returns from a head knock suffered ahead of the PNC, and Patrick Parfrey’s cameo against Tonga has won a spot in the run-on side.

Elsewhere on the bench there is a return for flanker Justin Blanchet, who was forced off early against Fiji. Theo Sauder returns from several months out with a shoulder injury, and there is a return to the squad for Andrew Coe, the only core sevens player included in the training squad.

Leinster feature only six of the 23 that dressed for May’s match against Saracens with captain Scott Fardy the only returning starter. Ireland international Michael Bent wears the No3 shirt with two highly promising loose forwards named in blindside flanker Max Deegan and No8 Caelan Doris.

The backline is also young though there are two more Ireland caps featured – outside center Rory O’Loughlin and right winger Adam Byrne. Ireland Sevens internationals patrol the left wing and fullback in the form of Barry Daly and Jimmy O’Brien respectively.

There is a mix of youth and experience in the Leinster reserves. James Tracy has won six caps for Ireland while former Wallabies winger Joe Tomane should get a run in the midfield. Ross Molony coves lock with another lineout specialist in Josh Murphy likely to feature on the blindside. Cian Kelleher is an Emerging Ireland cap who has returned after three seasons in Connacht.

On paper it’s hard to gauge the two sides but Leinster have a winning culture and arrive from a fully professional environment. Canada’s struggles in the PNC leave them on five straight defeats with the Americas Rugby Championship match against Chile their only winning result of the year. Leinster enter as favorites accordingly.

Kickoff is set for 3pm local time, noon Pacific, 8pm Dublin time. At the time of writing there is no live stream or television broadcast planned.

[EDIT: Rugby Canada have now confirmed a live stream on their Facebook page.]

CANADA
1 Hubert Buydens, 2 Eric Howard, 3 Matt Tierney, 4 Evan Olmstead, 5 Conor Keys, 6 Kyle Baillie, 7 Lucas Rumball, 8 Tyler Ardron (capt.), 9 Gordon McRorie, 10 Peter Nelson, 11 DTH van der Merwe, 12 Ciaran Hearn, 13 Ben LeSage, 14 Taylor Paris, 15 Patrick Parfrey

Replacements: 16 Benoît Pifféro, 17 Djustice Sears-Duru, 18 Jake Ilnicki, 19 Mike Sheppard, 20 Justin Blanchet, 21 Matt Heaton, 22 Luke Campbell, 23 Phil Mack, 24 Shane O’Leary, 25 Nick Blevins, 26 Conor Trainor, 27 Theo Sauder, 28 Andrew Coe

LEINSTER
1 Ed Byrne, 2 Bryan Byrne, 3 Michael Bent, 4 Ryan Baird, 5 Scott Fardy (capt.), 6 Max Deegan, 7 Will Connors, 8 Caelan Doris, 9 Hugh O’Sullivan, 10 Ciaran Frawley, 11 Barry Daly, 12 Conor O’Brien, 13 Rory O’Loughlin, 14 Adam Byrne, 15 Jimmy O’Brien

Replacements (from): Ronan Kelleher, James Tracy, Peter Dooley, Vakhtang Abdaladze, Ross Molony, Josh Murphy, Martin Moloney, Paddy Patterson, Harry Byrne, Joe Tomane, Cian Kelleher, Hugo Keenan

Date: Saturday, August 24
Venue: Tim Hortons Field, Hamilton
Kickoff: 15:00 local (12:00 Pacific, 20:00 Dublin)
Referee: Moe Chaudhry (RC)
Assistants: Michael Jones (RC) & Peter Pender (RC)
Broadcasts: Facebook