Canadian men begin road to rugby World Cup
Canadians face Georgia in Test match today
Sean Duke ran many miles at Wallace Field with a rare combination of stride and stamina during his outstanding rugby career with the University of Victoria Vikes.
He did the same for Canada in sevens. Now the medical school student is back in XVs and tasked with helping Canada qualify for the 2019 World Cup in Japan.
“Sevens is a different game, but Sean brings composure, experience and pace [to XVs as well],” said Canadian coach Mark Anscombe, during a conference call with Canadian media.
Duke draws into a XVs Test match for the first time since 2014 when Langford-based Canada plays today against No. 12 Georgia in Calgary.
Another former UVic Vikes player, Brett Beukeboom, will captain Canada this afternoon.
There is another Test for Canada on June 17 against No. 16 Romania in Edmonton.
“These are two big, physical teams,” said Anscombe.
It is all in preparation for Canada’s two-game, total-points qualifying set against the No. 17 U.S. on June 24 at Tim Hortons Field in Hamilton, Ont., and July 1 in San Diego to decide the North American berth into the 2019 World Cup.
The loser between Canada and the U.S. must go through a backdoor qualifying route that includes South America, something Canada has never had to do before.
Canada’s slide to No. 23 in the world hasn’t gone unnoticed ahead of this crucial month of Tests.
“We need to turn it around. We need results,” was Victoria-based Anscombe’s blunt response.
“But we know we have chances ahead of us,” added the Canadian bench boss, who hails from New Zealand.
Anscombe has named 32 players for the biggest month in Canadian men’s XVs rugby since the 2015 World Cup. He knows he will need to shrewdly allot field time over the four games, particular the final two World Cup qualifiers against the U.S.
“We must ration playing time wisely,” Anscombe said, as he unveiled his 23 players for the Georgia Test in Calgary.
Veteran Phil Mack of Victoria will start at scrum-half, and Shawnigan Lake School grad Guiseppe du Toit of the UVic Vikes at centre, Conor Keys of UVic at lock and Vikes alumnus and Northhampton pro Jake Ilnicki at prop.
Gradyn Bowd and Liam Chisholm of the UVic Vikes and Castaway Wanderer and now London Irish pro Ciaran Hearn will be subbing in from the bench.
“Georgia has got some big boys in the scrums and the mauls, so our players up front will be busy,” said Mack, a James Bay Athletic Association player and graduate of Oak Bay High and the UVic Vikes.
“In the backs, we are looking to be more accurate,” added the undersized but crafty Mack.
The enormity of this month is not lost on any of the Canadian players.
“It’s huge. But it’s a process. We want to use these two games [against Georgia and Romania] to get our systems right for the qualifier and get to the World Cup,” said Mack.