Full Match – Canada vs England ‘A’ 2004

The second edition of the now-defunct Churchill Cup took place in 2004. There were only two rounds, both taking place in Alberta, Canada. The straight knockout format saw Canada facing England ‘A’ at Calgary Rugby Park for a spot in the final hosted in Edmonton the following weekend.

Canada were in the early stages of the new World Cup cycle. The late Ric Suggitt was in his third match as Head Coach after succeeding David Clark. They had split May’s Super Powers Cup matches in Tokyo, defeating the USA and losing to Japan, and entered the match at 13th on the World Rugby Rankings.

Ten players from RWC 2003 were in the match day squad including prop Kevin Tkachuk, named captain for the first time just days after signing with Glasgow Warriors. Saracens scrumhalf Morgan Williams was the most experienced man in the lineup winning his 35th cap and first since the World Cup.

Despite not being a test match, Canada awarded caps for the contest. Both flankers Mike Langley and Christoph Strubin were on debut. They would go on to play one full test each. Also winning his first cap was winger Stirling Richmond, whose promising international career would come to a premature end in 2005 due to injury. Derek Daypuck won his first cap as a replacement.

England’s starting lineup featured nine capped players with the other six going on to win full test caps. Among the uncapped was Leicester lock Louis Deacon, who would later start all four matches at RWC 2011. Only five players have more career Premiership appearances than captain Hugh Vyvyan, one of them replacement hooker George Chuter.

The backs featured future British & Irish Lions winger Mark Cueto, still uncapped at this point. Current Canada Sevens coach Henry Paul featured in an impressive midfield alongside Jamie Noon. The latter would earn 38 caps and feature at RWC 2007.

CANADA
1 Kevin Tkachuk (capt.), 2 Aaron Abrams, 3 Garth Cooke, 4 Colin Yukes, 5 Sean O’Leary, 6 Mike Langley, 7 Christoph Strubin, 8 Josh Jackson, 9 Morgan Williams, 10 Mike Danskin, 11 David Moonlight, 12 Marco Di Girolamo, 13 Ryan Smith, 14 Stirling Richmond, 15 Quentin Fyffe

Replacements: 16 Dan Pletch, 17 Pat Riordan, 18 Forrest Gainer, 19 Mike Burak, 20 Stan McKeen, 21 Ed Fairhurst, 22 Derek Daypuck

ENGLAND ‘A’
1 Mike Worsley, 2 Matt Cairns, 3 Will Green, 4 Louis Deacon, 5 Alex Brown, 6 Pat Sanderson, 7 Andy Hazell, 8 Hugh Vyvyan (capt.), 9 Martyn Wood, 10 Alex King, 11 Dan Scarbrough, 12 Henry Paul, 13 Jamie Noon, 14 Mark Cueto, 15 Michael Horak

Replacements: 16 Kevin Sorrell, 17 David Walder, 18 Peter Richards, 19 George Chuter, 20 Micky Ward, 21 Richard Birkett, 22 Will Johnson

Date: Sunday, June 13, 2004
Venue: Calgary Rugby Park, Calgary
Referee: Gary Wise (New Zealand)
Assistants: Matt Peters (New Zealand) & Kevin McCaslin (USA)
Attendance: 4,000