Head coach Kingsley Jones has named his game day 23 that will take the pitch against two-time champions South Africa in Canada’s third game of the Rugby World Cup (RWC) on Tuesday, October 8th.
Coming off of a heartfelt loss to New Zealand, Jones and his team are looking to build off their experiences, using the opportunity to play against the worlds best to further develop their play.
“The last 20 minutes of the (New Zealand) game, we were competitive,” said Jones. “We fought hard. We never stopped, so there’s lots of positives to build on and that’s what we’re going to look at.”
Making his first RWC appearance is PEI’s Kyle Baillie. Baillie is returning from a lower body injury suffered against the USA. Phil Mack will step in for McRorie at scrumhalf with Shane O’Leary and injury replacement Guiseppe du Toit, possibly earning their first RWC caps off the bench.
“Great to welcome Phil back and all his experience,” added Jones. “Kyle comes back in, he gives us a lot and strengthens our lineout. Andrew Quattrin, he’s a young player and he has a big future. Every opportunity he’s given, he’s taken so he deserves the start. Couple of niggling injuries but we need that experience, we need that depth ahead of South Africa and Namibia.”
DTH van der Merwe is set to break the record for most RWC appearances by a Canadian at 15 on Tuesday in a special match for the South African-born winger.
Fans can watch Canada face the Springboks live on TSN1 and TSN 4, kickoff at 6:15am ET/ 3:15am PT.
Canada’s Roster:
1. Hubert Buydens (Saskatoon, SK) Unattached
2. Andrew Quattrin (Holland Landing, ON) Toronto Arrows
3. Jake Ilnicki (Williams Lake, BC) Seattle Seawolves
4. Evan Olmstead (Vancouver, BC) Unattached
5. Kyle Baillie (Summerside, PEI) New Orleans Gold
6. Lucas Rumball (Scarborough, ON) Toronto Arrows
7. Matt Heaton (Godmanchester, QC) Rugby ATL
8. Tyler Ardron (Lakefield, ON) Chiefs ‘C’
9. Phil Mack (Victoria, BC) Seattle Seawolves
10. Peter Nelson (Dungannon, UK) Unattached
11. DTH van der Merwe (Regina, SK) Glasgow Warriors
12. Ciaran Hearn (Conception Bay South, NL) Unattached
13. Conor Trainor (Vancouver, BC) USON Nevers
14. Jeff Hassler (Okotoks, AB) Seattle Seawolves
15. Andrew Coe (Markham, ON) Markham Irish
16. Benoit Piffero (Issoire, France) Blagnac SCR
17. Djustice Sears-Duru (Oakville, ON) Seattle Seawolves
18. Matthew Tierney (Oakville, ON) Castres Olympiques
19. Josh Larsen (Parksville, BC) New England Free Jacks
20. Mike Sheppard (Brampton, ON) Toronto Arrows
21. Jamie Mackenzie (Oakville, ON) Toronto Arrows
22. Shane O’Leary (Cambellton, NB) Nottingham Rugby
23. Guiseppe du Toit (Maple Ridge, BC) Toronto Arrows
Canada’s Rugby World Cup 2019 Schedule:
Canada 7-48 Italy
Canada 0-63 New Zealand
TUESDAY 08 OCTOBER
03:15 PT/ 06:15 ET /19:15 LOCAL TIME
CANADA v SOUTH AFRICA
Broadcast: TSN1 and TSN4
Kobe Misaki Stadium, Kobe City
SUNDAY 13 OCTOBER
20:15 PT/ 23:15 ET/ 12:15 LOCAL TIME
CANADA v NAMIBIA
Broadcast: TSN
Kamaishi Recovery Memorial Stadium, Iwate Prefecture, Kamaishi
