2014 America's Rugby Championship

[canadafan]

Apparently Connor McCann played at blindside flanker for BLRC last weekend, and no, you didn't read that wrong.

 

[LittleGuy]

Eagles final squad.....

Forwards: John Cullen, Brian Doyle, Andrew Durutalo, Zach Fenoglio, Graham Harriman, Ollie Kilifi, Angus MacLellan, Ben Pinkelman, Lou Stanfill, Kyle Sumsion, Ben Tarr, Phil Thiel, Matt Trouville, and Nick Wallace

Backs: Nate Augspurger, Lemoto Filikitonga, Troy Hall, Justin Hundley, Chad London, Tim Maupin, Adam Siddall, Tim Stanfill, Andrew Suniula, Shalom Suniuila, and Zach Test

 

[canadafan]

Our potential starting line up, just for some fun:

I would go with:

1. Tom Dolezel (Blues)
2. Ray Barkwill (Blues) (more due to a lack of game time for Hamilton)
3. James Smith (Wolf Pack) (this guy is a gamer, watch for him)
4. Aaron Flagg (Bears)
5. Evan Olmstead (Wolf Pack)
6. Clayton Panga (Wolf Pack)
7. Kyle Gilmour (Wolf Pack) (c)
8. Adam Cejvanovic (Bears)

9. Gordon McRorie (Wolf Pack)
10. Guiseppe du Toit (Bears) (only starts this match because we are facing Uruguay)
11. Dan Moor (Blues)
12. Nick Blevins (Wolf Pack)
13. Pay Kay (Bears)
14. Andrew Coe (Blues)
15. Sean Ferguson (Bears)

So that makes it: 4 Blues, 6 Wolf Pack, 5 Bears, 0 Rock in the starting line up.

I could see a back row of: Gilmour, Dala, Cejvanovic too, but with Dala having no game time in the ARC, I think he starts on the bench. Kind of weird to see no Blues players starting in the back row. Also, our line out wouldn't be that good considering both starting locks are about 6'4".

 

[canadafan]

Game day, here is Canada's line up:

Canada's Starting Team to face Uruguay:

1 - Tom Dolezel, (London St. George's/Ontario Blues) London, ON

2 - Ray Barkwill, (Niagara Wasps RFC/Ontario Blues) Niagara Falls, ON

3 - Doug Wooldridge, (Lindsay RFC/Ontario Blues) Lindsay, ON

4 - Aaron Flagg, (Abbotsford RFC/BC Bears) Abbotsford, BC

5 - Kyle Baillie, (Edmonton Druids/Atlantic Rock) Charlottetown, PEI

6 - Evan Olmstead, (Parametta Two Blues/Prairie Wolf Pack) Calgary, AB

7 - Kyle Gilmour, Captain (St. Albert /Prairie Wolf Pack) St. Albert, AB

8 - Seb Pearson, (London St. George's/Ontario Blues) London, ON

9 - Jamie Mackenzie, (UVIC Vikes/Ontario Blues) Oakville, ON

10 - Gordon McRorie, (Calgary Hornets/Prairie Wolf Pack) Calgary, AB

11 - Dan Moor, (Balmy Beach RFC/Ontario Blues) Toronto, ON

12 - Derek Daypuck, (London St. George's/Ontario Blues) London, ON

13 - Nick Blevins, (Calgary Hornets/Prairie Wolf Pack) Calgary, AB

14 - Sean Ferguson, (UBC Thunderbirds/BC Bears) Vancouver, BC

15 - Pat Kay, (UVIC Vikes/BC Bears) Duncan, BC

16 - Ryan Hamilton, (Capilano RFC/BC Bears) Vancouver, BC

17 - Pete Houlihan, (Edmonton Druids/Prairie Wolf Pack) Edmonton, AB

18 - James Smith, (Shoalhaven RFC/Prairie Wolf Pack) Calgary, AB

19 - Nanyak Dala (Castaway Wanderers/Prairie Wolf Pack) Regina, SK

20 - Admir Cejvanovic (Burnaby Lake RFC/BC Bears) Vancouver, BC

21 - Patrick Parfrey, (Swilers RFC/Atlantic Rock) St. Johns, NL

22 – Guiseppe Du Toit, (UVIC Vikes) Maple Ridge, BC

23 - Clay Panga, (Calgary Hornets/Prairie Wolf Pack) Calgary, AB

 

[LittleGuy]

Not to belittle Uruguay "A" but we should really be looking at a bonus try win with that lineup, anything less would be a dissapointment.

Edit: My flag wll be changing back after the RWCQ is anyone is wondering

 

[canadafan]

Agree, with Uruguay missing so many starters, it should be a comfortable win for us. Glad to see we aren't playing around this year.

 

[Jaguares]

How popular is rugby in Canada? You have good athletes, especially in winter sports

 

[canadafan]

The real issue is geography, Ontario and B.C. Are so far apart meaning that setting up some kind of inter provincial competition is expensive as hell.

 

[Beerfalo]

Ya Canada is pretty damn big haha. The different provinces can't realistically compete with each other outside the small CRC schedule which means the very best domestic players aren't playing against each other on a regular basis like they would in New Zealand/British Isles, Pacific Islands and France. Plus BC is weird and runs a winter schedule while the rest of us play a summer schedule. The sport is getting bigger and better here but it's still a pretty niche sport. Team Canada games are hyped up and shown on TSN which helps with exposure. I'm also holding out hope they might show interest in the CRC but I ain't holding my breath. (Some)Teams are taking youth development a lot more seriously which I hope starts to show over the next decade. Getting kids into the sport at a young age so they grow up playing the game and developing their skills instead of just relying on high school/college converts.

 

[LittleGuy]

Probably not going to catch much of Argentina vs. U.S.A. hopefully it's archived so I can catch it later.

 

[Beerfalo]

http://www.sportscanada.tv/rugbycanada/index.php/watch-live/english

Here's the stream of the USA/Argentina game. Looks like it's pretty good quality.

Edit: Of course after I praise it the stream starts to freak out for me and get kinda fuzzy. Still, looks better than Uruguay/Russia did.

 

[LittleGuy]

Just been watching for like 5-10 minutes. This Jaguars team came as advertised, they look good,

 

[LittleGuy]

Jaguars won the first game 41-14.

After a sloppy first twenty minutes Canada finally crossed the white wash with Barkwill going in for a try. 10-3 for Canada about thirty minutes in.

Edit: 13-3 for Canada just about at half time. Pack has played well but backs have been pretty meh. Mackenzie is having a shocker at SH and isn't getting the backs good ball, it's all been a little underwhelming so far and we are lucky we are playing Uruguay "A" and not their full side. Might not stick around for the 2nd half, neighbour is having a pretty sick Thanksgiving roast and it's more entertaining than the game so far.

 

[Beerfalo]

Canada lead 13-3 at the half. Uruguay sucking hard at scrums and their lineouts are getting harassed by Baille. Canada does look rather sloppy so far but seem to be getting some steam. Hopefully they click as a team in the second half and increase their lead. If Canada comes out of the gate like this against the Yanks and Jaguars then they'll be in for a long rough night.

 

[Beerfalo]

That was a pretty questionable red for Uruguay. I mean it was a dump tackle but it didn't look malicious. Canada has looked worse this half than they did last half IMO. The only thing that looks good are the lineouts and scrums. Daypuck should definitely not step on the field against USA and Argentina. And Mackenzie and Gordie had absolutely no chemistry. It was painful to watch and I'm glad they subbed JMac out.

 

[LittleGuy]

Looks like I ddn't miss much in the 2nd half. Not a very good Canadian effort, 20-6 against a talent starved Uruguay side not enough. Jaguars shoukld cruise to ***le at this rate.

 

[canadafan]

Thought our forwards dominated the match, but our backs couldn't complete a pass to save their lives. It was not the effort I expected from them.

 

[MartinS]

Hey guys, a bit of respect for Uruguay A team = When Paraguay made its move to let Uruguay out of the ARC it did not have the sports merits to do so and Uruguay needs to add players with international exprience for their WRC experience = Which by the way as it turned out they have Qualified. With after the facts information it also disproved your idea of a "weak team" based on the results of the first game Canada 20 - Uruguay 6 - Regards

Uruguay won the CONSUR A tournament and complained to the IRB that they deserved to go to the ARC over Paraguay and next thing you know Uruguay was added and Paraguay was dropped. At least that's a condensed version of what I was told happened.

I'm rather disappointed, I mean I get why Uruguay would want their young guys to get this chance to get smacked around...err I mean compete against some solid competition, but I think Paraguay would most likely field a stronger team than Uruguay will be able to do this year. I mean Uruguay and, specifically, the IRB both knew there was a big chance Uruguay would be competing in the Repechage final so why not give another up-and-coming CONSUR team a chance?

 

[Beerfalo]

I do recognize it's important for Uruguay to give their depth players higher quality competition, especially since they are now in the RWC and definitely need it. Still Uruguay looked like poop for the most part. Canada played badly, though good on Uruguay for being a bit better than I thought. Our pack abused the Uruguay pack and dominated in scrums and line outs. It was the backs for Canada that kept the score close with terrible passes, needless turnovers and just looking disconnected from one another. The Canada 'A' backs are also more like our 3rd-4th stringers so I'm not that shocked but it was still rather disappointing. The Yanks and Jaguars would have absolutely shredded Canada for all the mistakes our backs were making. I stand by my statement until after Uruguay play USA Selects and Argentina Jaguars. I'll gladly eat crow if they prove me wrong.

 

[LittleGuy]

Uruguay are flying in a handful of reinforcements from the main team, I think 5-6 guys are heading out to join their side. Going to be very tough for them on what looks like a solid Jaguars side.

Canada vs. U.S.A. likely to be the battle for 2nd place, hopefully we see a marked improvement from the backs.

If we've come off as disrespectful MartinS that wasn't our intention, in fact I think the full Uruguay team could have very well beaten Canada last night as our advantage in the scrums and lineout likely would have dissapeared which is where we won the game for the most part. I was surprised at Uruguay 'A's resilieince though, that side out last night probably only has 5-10 guys with a real chance at making the Los Teros RWC squad and than most likely on the reserves and they didn't get blown out.