Rugby squad pins hopes on more games

• The clock is ticking on Canada’s World Cup rugby team.

Kieran Crowley’s squad has won two of its last 11 test matches dating back to November 2013. The Canadian men, currently ranked 18th in the world, have only beaten No. 21 Namibia and No. 29 Portugal during that stretch.

They lost to No. 9 Samoa, No. 11 Scotland, No. 12 Tonga, No. 13 Japan (twice), No. 14 Georgia, No. 16 U.S., and No. 17 Romania (twice). The record worsens if you add nontest losses to the New Zealand Maori and an English seconddivision all-star team.

With Canada’s World Cup opener against No. 3 Ireland just 50-odd days away, there is lots to do.

Canadian captain Tyler Ardron and Gareth Rees, manager of the national men’s program, both point to Canada’s recent lack of games as a problem.

Wednesday’s Pacific Nations Cup game against Samoa in Toronto represents just Canada’s third test match since losing to Romania last November at the end of a European tour.

The good news is there are more challenges ahead in the leadup to the Rugby World Cup, which opens Sept. 17 in London.

“We now, in the next month and a half, have six games before the World Cup starts,” said Rees, a former Canadian captain who played in four World Cups. “So there’s a lot of learning, a lot of things we’re trying to put in place in a pretty short period of time. But this group’s really accepted the challenge.”

The Samoa game is to be followed by a final Pacific Nations Cup match on Monday in Burnaby, B.C.

The Canadians then play the U.S. on Aug. 22 in Ottawa, the Glasgow Warriors on Aug. 29 in Halifax and Georgia and Fiji on Sept. 2 and 6, respectively, in England.

Canada opened the Pacific Nations Cup with a 20-6 loss to Japan in San Jose before squandering a 15-3 lead to Tonga, falling 28-18 in Burnaby.

“We’ve created some good opportunities but we have not finished in our last two games. Skills have let us down and we haven’t managed it,” said Rees. “So to have another opportunity against Samoa is really important. We have to start taking these.

“Make no mistake about it, we’re being pretty tough on ourselves because we want to produce results.”

Part of the challenge is assembling Canada’s best players at the same time, with injuries, club commitments and the fact that — unlike most countries — Canada’s 15-man squad draws on its sevens program.

Facing a third game in 11 days and with the tournament finale on Monday in Burnaby, Crowley has made 12 changes to his starting lineup from the team that lost to Tonga. The holdovers are No. 8 Ardron, flanker John Moonlight and Matt Evans, who switches to wing from fullback.

Pritchard, Canada’s all-time leading points-scorer, is three points away from becoming the 20th player in test history to score 600 points.

The U.S. meets Tonga and Fiji faces Japan in the first two games of Wednesday’s tripleheader at BMO Field.