A disappointing performance by Canada as a well drilled Zimbabwe U20 squad ran out to a 20-7 halftime lead and then weathered a Canadian comeback to close the game with two late tries and claim the win.
Rugby Canada finally issued a press release on the tournament they’re hosting in nine days. They also named the Canada squad selected for the tournament.
Canada lost their last match of the tournament to host Netherlands 23-15. The Netherlands went ahead early with a try and a penalty for an 8-0 lead. Canada replied with two tries for a 12-8 lead at the half. The teams exchanged penalties early in the second half for a 15-11 scoreline in Canada’s favour. The Netherlands closed out the game with two tries to win 23-15.
It wasn’t pretty and the result renewed questions on when Canada are going to make changes to the leadership of the men’s program. The team look demoralized and the intensity of a test match was missing, especially in the first 40 when Canada absorbed a 40-13 pounding.
The Rugby Canada press release calls it a “clinical performance”, it was anything but against a mediocre Belgian side with 11 uncapped players. Belgium’s recent wins were against Poland, Switzerland and Lithuania. Belgium weren’t even in the European Tier 2 championships this year, the Netherlands beat them out for that honour. This was Canada, trying to cling on to Tier 2 status, playing a Tier 3 rugby nation.
Kingsley Jones has named his 30 players for the two tests this summer. The good news is that potentially 3 players who played for Canada West in the Coast to Coast Cup may get to represent this summer. We say potentially because Jones does have a history of selecting players on the long list and then they don’t get in the match day 23 over a series of games.
USA named their 30 player squad for 3 matches in July, a warmup game against the French Barbarians and the home and away World Cup Qualifier series against Chile. Of the 30 players 22 are from MLR (8 from European clubs) and interestingly, 13 of the 22 made the weekly MLR First XV list on one or more occasions.
This is actually an improvement for Canada, replacing a Barbarians match with a full test match against a higher ranked opponent. Spain are ranked 15th, Canada are ranked 21st. Canada’s opponent on July 2nd will be 27th ranked Belgium.
The 32 players to travel to NZ for the Pacific Four Tournament have been named. Comparing the list to the team from the November 2021 tour, there’s one outstanding name missing and that’s the #10 Emily Belchos De Goede. She started at fullback in the first test against USA but then started at #10 for the second win against the USA and the win over Wales. She looked like the first choice for #10 going forward. Alex Tessier started at #10 in the first USA match and may be the first choice #10 now, although Taylor Perry (formerly Taylor Black) would be in the running as well.
Rugby Canada released their 58 player list for the East v West camp taking place this week in Guelph, Ontario. The RC press release is appended below. It’s interesting to breakdown the BC numbers.