Veterans Phil Mack of Victoria and Laura Russell of Cowichan RFC will respectively captain the Canadian men’s and women’s rugby teams for Test matches this week.
The Canadian women play England today in London and the Canadian men meet Spain in Madrid on Saturday.
The men’s Test is taking on an air of desperation and can be classified as a must-win for Canadian morale. Canada has slipped to No. 23 in the world, from No. 12 in 2011. The likes of No. 20 Spain and also No. 22 Germany and No. 18 Russia — countries Canada should be beating in rugby — have moved ahead in the world rankings. So Canada will be looking to make a much-needed statement against Spain, a side it beat handily 60-22 in their only previous meeting in 2010.
Former Castaway Wanderers Hubert Buydens and Ray Barkwill, now with the Seattle Seawolves and New Orleans Gold, respectively, will anchor the Canadian front row Saturday. The fleet-footed DTH van der Merwe of Victoria, a pro with the Newcastle Falcons, will start in the centres with former CW great Ciaran Hearn, a pro with London Irish. The Oak Bay High and University of Victoria Vikes grad Mack will start at scrum-half. Flanker Aaron Carpenter will earn his 80th cap to add to his total as Canada’s all-time Tests leader.
Cole Keith of James Bay, Shawnigan Lake School-grad Guiseppe du Toit of the UVic Vikes and UVic grad Brett Beukeboom, a pro with the Cornish Pirates, will be available off the bench.
Canada opened the November Test window with a 51-9 loss Nov. 3 against the New Zealand Maori All Blacks at B.C. Place before a Canadian XVs rugby record crowd of 29,480 and a 54-22 loss to No. 12 Georgia last week in Tbilisi. The Test window ends for Canada on Nov. 25 with a tough assignment against No. 9 Fiji in Narbonne, France.
“To be asked to lead the national team is something I don’t take lightly. I am going to put everything I have into it,” said Mack, when he was named Canadian captain for this Test window.
“But it’s never about one guy. We have lot of great leaders on this team.”
It is all in preparation for the Americas repechage, two-game, total-point Canada-Uruguay series Jan. 27 at B.C. Place and Feb. 3 in Montevideo, with the winner advancing to the 2019 World Cup in Japan. It is the first time that Canada, beaten by the U.S. Eagles over the summer, has failed to advance to the World Cup directly out of the North American qualifier. Losing to No. 19 Uruguay would be considered unacceptable in the Canadian rugby community.
Meanwhile, Russell takes her 40 caps in as captain of Canada today against England in the women’s Test. Also named to start for Canada are Tyson Beukeboom of Cowichan RFC, Jess Neilson of Victoria, who plays for Castaway Wanderers and is making her debut as starter, and Emily Belchos of Westshore RFC.
Canada is sending a young team because this three-game tour against England — concluding with two Tests next week in London — is coming so soon after the World Cup held over the summer in Ireland and many of the veterans players are either in a rest phase from international play or reassessing their futures. Fourteen Canadian players are making their national team debuts today.
“This will take time and organically grow,” said interim Canadian head coach Sandro Fiorino, in a statement.
Canada is 4-21 all-time against England but played the English tough in a 27-20 loss in their last meeting earlier this year in Christchurch, New Zealand.
“We are blessed in Canada with great physical athletes, so if we can combine the two [skill and size] we should be in a good place moving forward,” added Fiorino.
“The goal of the program is to work toward a podium finish at the next World Cup, but it’s going to take a lot of work and effort from the staff and players to close the gap on the rest of the world. We’re up for the challenge.”
Rugby Canada is headquartered in Langford.
