PNC Preview – USA vs Canada

The second of three matches between the two North American rivals takes place in Colorado on Saturday evening. A last-minute try saved the USA in Seattle during the Americas Rugby Championship. Canada will be hoping they can finally get the win that has eluded them since 2013 in the opening round of the Pacific Nations Cup.

Kingsley Jones welcomes back leading exports Evan Olmstead and Tyler Ardron in a pack that shows three changes to the one that took the field in March. Lucas Rumball continues to recover from minor knee surgery with Matt Heaton getting the start at openside flanker.

Many eyes will be trained on Peter Nelson as the Ulsterman makes his test debut at flyhalf. Ciaran Hearn partners Ben LeSage with DTH van der Merwe and Conor Trainor on the wings and Patrick Parfrey nominated at fullback. Wing duo Taylor Paris and Jeff Hassler are ruled out after suffering facial injuries in a nasty collision during training.

Arrows pair Andrew Quattrin and Rob Brouwer are named on the bench. The former is set to win his first cap as a hooker replacement with the latter making his first appearance under Jones after two years in the international wilderness.

Gary Gold has handed opportunities Chance Wenglewski, Dylan Fawsitt, and Paul Mullen in the front row as Joe Taufete’e and Titi Lamositele sit out. Malon Al-Jiboori gets his first test start on the blindside flank with John Quill pushing to the openside.

AJ MacGinty makes a welcome return at flyhalf and Will Hooley is restored at fullback. Bryce Campbell lines up at inside center with no Paul Lasike included, and Marcel Brache is in the No13 shirt. Eagles Sevens standout Martin Iosefo wins his first cap since June 2017 on the left wing.

Paddy Ryan’s strong form in Major League Rugby earns him a spot in the reserves with bruising Houston SaberCats back row Jamason Fa’anana-Schultz handed his first appearance in an Eagles shirt. Sevens captain Madison Hughes is on the bench with a fullback cameo likely in the second half.

Injuries and selection decisions make this a close contest on paper, with much riding on the performance of Nelson for Canada. This will be the first run-out for both sides after several weeks of training and with World Cup spots on the line there will be no shortage of nerves. The Eagles carry momentum behind them and home field advantage to enter as favorites.

Kickoff is set for 6pm local time, 5pm Pacific, 8pm Eastern. The match will be broadcast live on NBC Sports in the USA and TSN.ca in Canada, with World Rugby providing streaming options on their media outlets for those located elsewhere. It will also be aired on two-hour delay on TSN1.

USA
1 Chance Wenglewski, 2 Dylan Fawsitt, 3 Paul Mullen, 4 Ben Landry, 5 Nick Civetta, 6 Malon Al-Jiboori, 7 John Quill, 8 Cam Dolan, 9 Shaun Davies, 10 AJ MacGinty, 11 Martin Iosefo, 12 Bryce Campbell, 13 Marcel Brache, 14 Blaine Scully (capt.), 15 Will Hooley

Replacements: 16 Kapeli Pifeleti, 17 David Ainu’u, 18 Paddy Ryan, 19 Greg Peterson, 20 Jamason Fa’anana-Schultz, 21 Ruben de Haas, 22 Gannon Moore, 23 Madison Hughes

CANADA
1 Hubert Buydens, 2 Benoît Pifféro, 3 Cole Keith, 4 Evan Olmstead, 5 Conor Keys, 6 Kyle Baillie, 7 Matt Heaton, 8 Tyler Ardron (capt.), 9 Phil Mack, 10 Peter Nelson, 11 DTH van der Merwe, 12 Ciaran Hearn, 13 Ben LeSage, 14 Conor Trainor, 15 Patrick Parfrey

Replacements: 16 Andrew Quattrin, 17 Rob Brouwer, 18 Jake Ilnicki, 19 Justin Blanchet, 20 Luke Campbell, 21 Gordon McRorie, 22 Shane O’Leary, 23 Nick Blevins

Date: Saturday, July 27
Venue: Infinity Park, Glendale
Kickoff: 18:00 local (17:00 Pacific, 20:00 Eastern)
Referee: Andrew Brace (IRFU)
Assistants: Ben Whitehouse (WRU) & Ludovic Cayre (FFR)
TMO: David Grashoff (RFU)
Broadcasts: NBC Sports Gold (USA), TSN.ca (Canada Live), TSN1 (Canada Delayed), World Rugby