Canada seeks rugby win in Chile

Undersized in stature, but not in heart, front-row veteran Ray Barkwill will earn his 50th cap today when the Langford-based Canadian national team concludes the Americas Rugby Championship against Chile in Santiago (8 a.m. PT on TSN3).

Barkwill, a native of Niagara Falls who now plays semi-pro with the Seattle SeaWolves, honed his craft at Windsor Park in Oak Bay with the Castaway Wanderers.

Jake Ilnicki, a CW product out of the University of Victoria Vikes, will start alongside Barkwill on the front line today and be backed by Northland-pro Josh Larsen of Parksville in the second row.

Luke Campbell of Victoria, a rookie revelation out of Oak Bay High, gets the start at No. 8, and Shawnigan Lake School Stags graduate Dustin Dobravsky of CW at flanker.

The tenacious veteran Phil Mack of Victoria will again captain Canada from the scrum-half position. Doug Fraser of Ladysmith, another CW player, will start at outside centre.

Noah Barker of Courtenay has a chance to earn his first cap off the bench as he will dress in reserve, along with fellow-JBAA player Cole Keith, Cameron Polson of Victoria, Conor Keys of the UVic Vikes and Shawnigan Lakegrad Guiseppe du Toit of the Vikes.

World No. 21-ranked Canada is 1-3 in the ARC tournament after a win over Brazil at Westhills Stadium in Langford and losses to the U.S. Eagles, Uruguay and Argentina XV. The Canadians are targeting a win against No. 26 Chile, which is 0-4 in the tournament.

The big target this year for Canada is the last-chance qualifier for Japan World Cup 2019, to be held in November at a venue to be announced.