Canadian men set for Americas rugby event
The Canadian roster for its 2019 Americas Rugby Championship matches at Westhills Stadium, against Chile on Feb. 22 and Argentina XV on March 1, came into sharper focus.
Canada opens the Americas tournament Feb. 2 in Montevideo versus Uruguay and plays Brazil in Sao Paulo on Feb. 9, with Canadian coach Kingsley Jones naming his 28-player roster Monday for the opening South American leg.
Heading south will be Luke Campbell and Dustin Dobravsky of Victoria, Will Percellier of Mill Bay, Doug Fraser of Ladysmith, Noah Barker of Courtenay, Josh Larsen of Parksville and University of Victoria Vikes products Conor Keys and Guiseppe du Toit.
Percellier is with big-time club Stade Français and is an intriguing addition to the Canadian roster.
Castaway Wanderers products Ciarn Hearn, Hubert Buydens and Ray Barkwill, all coming out of Windsor Park to earn more than 50 caps each, will bring veteran stability to the group after helping lead Canada to the 2019 World Cup in Japan through last fall’s last-chance qualifying repechage in Marseille, France.
“The squad we have selected has a good mix of experience and youth,” said Canadian coach Jones, in a statement.
“With less than nine months until the Rugby World Cup, the ARC allows us the opportunity to give some players who played very well in 2018 but missed out on tough selection in November. Whilst it is important we have selected experienced players to help maintain continuity and confidence gained in the recent run of positive performances and victories. We’re currently on a six-game [three Test matches, 1 ‘A’ game and two club fixtures] winning streak and it’s vitally important for us to continue building confidence as we work toward the World Cup.”
Canada will close out the Americas Championship on March 8 against the U.S. in Seattle.
All games, except those featuring Argentina XV, are Test matches. Argentina is a top-tier rugby nation and does not send its full Pumas national side to the Americas tournament.
Because of construction, there will only be 1,000 seats available for the two games to be held at Westhills Stadium. Tickets for the games in Langford are in twogame packs for $49 and through rugby.ca. Single game tickets, if available, will go on-sale later.
RUGBY SEVENS: The Canadian women’s sevens team, also based in Langford, has been placed in a pool with Ireland, Fiji and Russia for the next World Series tournament Feb. 1-3 in Sydney, Australia.
It is the third of sixth World Series tournaments, out of which the top-four nations will advance directly to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Canada, the 2016 Rio Olympics bronze medallist, is second in the standings after two World Series events. The Canada Sevens, the fifth of sixth World Series tournaments, is May 11-12 at Westhills Stadium.
The Canadian men’s sevens, meanwhile, leave Westhills Stadium on Friday for their next World Series events in Hamilton, New Zealand, Jan. 26-27 and Sydney, Australia, Feb. 1-3 with the roster to be named Thursday. The Canada Sevens is March 9-10 at B.C. Place. The top four from this year’s men’s World Series will also book their tickets to Tokyo 2020.