Canada Announce Long List of 40 Players for July Tests: Travelling Roster Announcement Mid-June
Rugby Canada announced the men’s Canada XVs long list (40 players) for the July tests in a very muted manner. The article originally wasn’t even on the front page just as a list under the men’s XVs program. The list wasn’t alphabetical but seemed to be listed in order of position. My guess is it came from the coach without any media interpretation which may be useful in getting an insight into Kingsley Jones’ thinking on selection.
The breakdown of selection by source league and team is below.
29 MLR (Toronto 13, NOLA 3, Seattle 2, Houston 2, Atlanta 2, LA 1, San Diego 1, New England 1, Old Glory 1, New York 1, Utah 1, Austin 1)
5 Pacific Pride
3 Europe Tier 1
3 Europe Tier 2
The squad will be trimmed to 30 by mid-June.
Who are the noticeable omissions? DTH comes to mind, he must be sticking to his international retirement announcement. Matt Tierney from Castres, not on the list. Ciaran Hearn, although coming back from injury the last two weeks, is not on the list.
The list below is in the order posted by Rugby Canada, we just inserted headings in between. It makes for some interesting conjecture. Dewald Kotze is usually a hooker, has he migrated to prop during the COVID break? Also Rob Povey is not listed among the #10s, Nelson, Kelly, O’Leary but at the end with Parfrey and Prevost, potentially fullback material. Mason Flesch is listed after Rumball putting him in the loose forward category, a position he played with the Pride. Quinn Ngawati is listed just after Spencer Jones and before Guiseppe du Toit and Ben LeSage. Does that mean Kingsley favours him as a centre rather than a wing? There aren’t a lot of specialist wingers on the team, in the mold of DTH. Kainoa Lloyd is probably the most dangerous finisher in the 40 man roster. He might actually be the start of Kingsley’s outside backs but then that would put Lachlan Kratz in that category as well. There are a lot of players on the list that can, and have, played more than one position.
It should become clearer by mid-June when the team is reduced in number.
Loosehead
Cole Keith (Forward) – Toronto Arrows
Djustice Sears-Duru (Forward) – Seattle Seawolves
Liam Murray (Forward) – Houston Sabercats
Hooker
Andrew Quattrin (Forward) – Toronto Arrows
Eric Howard (Forward) – NOLA Gold
Foster Dewitt (Forward) – Pacific Pride
Tighthead
Tyler Rowland (Forward) – Toronto Arrows
Jake Ilnicki (Forward) – Seattle Seawolves
Dewald Kotze (Forward) – Pacific Pride
Second Row
Tyler Duguid (Forward) – Montpellier
Conor Keys (Forward) – Rugby Atlanta
Josh Larson (Forward) – New England Free Jacks
Kyle Baillie (Forward) – NOLA Gold
Corey Thomas (Forward) – LA Giltinis
Evan Olmstead (Forward) – Biarritz Olympique
Loose Forwards
Lucas Rumball (Forward) – Toronto Arrows
Mason Flesch (Forward) – Toronto Arrows
Paul Ciulini (Forward) – Toronto Arrows
Matt Heaton (Forward)) – Rugby Atlanta
Michael Smith (Forward) – San Diego Legion
Tyler Ardron (Forward) – Castres Olympique
Siaki Vikilani (Forward) – Toronto Arrows
Scrum Half
Ross Braude (Back) – Toronto Arrows
Will Percillier (Back) – Stade Francais
Fraser Hurst (Back) – Utah Warriors
Fly Half
Peter Nelson (Back) – Mont de Mason
Will Kelly (Back) – Toronto Arrows
Shane O’Leary (Back) – Rouen
Inside Backs
Spencer Jones (Back) – Toronto Arrows
Quinn Ngawati (Back) – RUNY
Guiseppe du Toit (Back) – Toronto Arrows
Benjamin LeSage (Back) – Toronto Arrows
Doug Fraser (Back) – Old Glory DC
Kainoa Lloyd (Back) – Pacific Pride
Lachlan Kratz (Back) – NOLA Gold
Outside Backs
Cole Davis (Back) – Austin Gilgronis
Isaac Olsen (Back) – Pacific Pride
Patrick Parfrey (Back) – Toronto Arrows
Robbie Povey (Back) – Houston SaberCats
Brennig Prevost (Back) – Pacific Pride