Canada Rugby mixes youth and experience for clash with U.S.

Canada’s depth will be tested Saturday when the Langford-based national rugby team opens World Cup qualifying for France 2023 against the United States in

St. John’s, N.L. (10:30 a.m. PT on pay site Premier Sports).

Veterans Jake Ilnicki, out of the University of Victoria Vikes and Castaway Wanderers, and Kyle Baillie are out with injuries.

“We will field a young team mixed with experience,” head coach Kingsley Jones of Sooke said from Newfoundland.

“We will miss them [Ilnicki and Baillie], but there is no point in risking further injury against a big, physical American team. It will be a challenge. We will need a lot of [ball] handling in possession.”

The clash is a two-game, total point set, so it’s essentially a 160-minute game, with the set switching to Infinity Park in Glendale, Colorado, on Sept. 11.

“The key is to stay in the fight and keep it tight,” said Jones.

Canada will hope to ride a hometown crowd at St. John’s in the opener.

“We need the crowd to be our 16th man,” said Jones. “Our players need to rise to it and immediately get the crowd involved by starting well.”

It will be the first Canada Test match in St. John’s since 2006.

“What I’ve missed the most about [his native] Wales are the characters,” said Jones.

There are plenty in Newfoundland. “This place is full of characters, from the coach [bus] driver on,” said Jones.

Starting among the forwards for Canada will be Djustice Sears-Duru, Andrew Quattrin, Matt Tierney, Corey Thomas, Conor Keys, Lucas Rumball, Matt Heaton and Siaki Vikilani. The starting backs are Ross Braude, Peter Nelson, Kainoa Lloyd, Spencer Jones, Ben LeSage, Brock Webster and Cooper Coats, the latter two from Canada’s Tokyo Olympic sevens team.

Canada will continue World Cup qualifying Oct. 2 at Starlight Stadium in Langford against either Uruguay or Chile.

The winner of the U.S. versus Canada total-points set will meet Uruguay at home Oct. 2 (in Canada’s case, at Starlight Stadium) and in Montevideo on Oct. 9 with the winner of that set advancing to the World Cup 2023 France. The loser of the Canada-U.S. set will face Chile on Oct. 2 at home (in Canada’s case, at Starlight Stadium) and Oct. 9 in Santiago with the loser of that eliminated and the winner staying alive and advancing to a repechage round.

Canada is attempting to keep alive its streak of having qualified for every World Cup since the event’s inception in 1987.