CRC Preview – Atlantic Rock vs Prairie Wolf Pack

The second Senior Men’s Canadian Rugby Championship Semi Final at Calgary Rugby Park sees the hosting Prairie Wolf Pack take on the Atlantic Rock, top seeds from the East division. Both teams again sport 1-1 records heading in with the Rock earning their spot ahead of the Blues through bonus points.

There are two notable changes in the Rock pack. Alex Forrest starts in place of Frank Walsh at loosehead prop and Kyle Baillie is fit for duty on the blindside flank. The latter made a positive impression for Canada in his return against Clermont. It makes three starting forwards from Prince Edward Island along with second row Liam Carter.

Nova Scotia scrumhalf Graham Barry partners Patrick Parfrey with Cooper Coats named at fullback and Paddy McNicholas on the wing. On the bench there is a 6-2 split with Lucas Hotton covering lock and loose forward and Tony Pomroy the reserve scrumhalf.

Openside flanker James O’Neill and reserve hooker Tyler Rockwell will miss out for the Wolf Pack after departing for Romania with Canada’s u20 side. Also missing are senior Canadian internationals Hubert Buydens and Nick Blevins.

Logan Jones replaces Buydens at loosehead prop with Kyle Morrison starting on the flank. Gordon McRorie makes a much-needed return at scrumhalf where he partners Robbie Povey. A couple surprises in the backline see Gradyn Bowd start in the midfield with Mozac Samson named on the wing. Ben LeSage takes over the captaincy.

Despite entering as the lower seeded of the two, the Wolf Pack should be considered favorites given their significant home field advantage and the return of McRorie to add direction to the attack. With Samson and Cole Davis on the wing there is an abundance of firepower out wide that the Rock cannot match. If the visitors win it will be through their forwards with Canada front rowers Martial Lagain and Cole Keith critical to success along with flankers Matt Heaton and Moe Abdelmonem.

Kickoff is set for 7pm local, 10pm Atlantic. A live stream can be found on Rugby Canada’s Facebook page.

EDIT: Air quality concerns in Calgary have seen the kickoff and stream link changed, see below:

Kickoff is set for 5pm local, 8pm Atlantic. A live stream can be found on SportsCanada TV.

ATLANTIC ROCK
1 Alex Forrest, 2 Martial Lagain (capt.), 3 Cole Keith, 4 Brad Lester, 5 Liam Carter, 6 Kyle Baillie, 7 Matt Heaton, 8 Matt Murphy, 9 Graham Barry, 10 Patrick Parfrey, 11 Aidan McMullan, 12 Jordan Wilson-Ross, 13 Josh Campbell, 14 Paddy McNicholas, 15 Cooper Coats

Replacements: 16 Owen Parfrey, 17 Frank Walsh, 18 Jordon Power, 19 Lucas Hotton, 20 Zac Coughlan, 21 Moe Abdelmonem, 22 Tony Pomroy, 23 Maxime Perreault-Brière

PRAIRIE WOLF PACK
1 Logan Jones, 2 Gabriel Kajdy, 3 Ryan Kotlewski, 4 Conor Turner, 5 Riley Fahlman, 6 Kyle Morrison, 7 Jordan Roberts, 8 Grant Crowell, 9 Gordon McRorie, 10 Robbie Povey, 11 Cole Davis, 12 Gradyn Bowd, 13 Ben LeSage (capt.), 14 Mozac Samson, 15 Cam Hall

Replacements: 16 Wayde Hodgen, 17 Jake Horton, 18 Marko Klimenko, 19 Josh Schlebach, 20 Joshua Pritchett, 21 Brock Gallagher, 22 Dalton Campbell, 23 James Buchanan

Date: Thursday, August 23
Venue: Calgary Rugby Park
Kickoff: 17:00 local (16:00 Pacific, 20:00 Atlantic)
Broadcasts: SportsCanada.tv