Canadian June Test Matches

[LittleGuy]

Rugby Canada has placed the preliminary schedule of the four tests Canada will play in June on it's calender of events. Venues have yet to be confirmed however, although the Italy match is expected to be played at BMO field in Toronto. As with last year a home and away with the U.S.A. Eagles will take place, and Georgia will also be visiting.

June 9th 2:00 p.m. EDT. Richardson Stadium, Kingston, Ontario: Canada vs. U.S.A.
June 15th 7:00 p.m. EDT. BMO Field, Toronto, Ontario: Canada vs. Italy
June 23rd 3:00 p.m. PDT. Swangard Stadium, Burnaby, British Cloumbia: Canada vs. Georgia

This looks like a great schedule with challenging yet winnable games for all teams involved as indicated by the current IRB rankings with Italy 12th, Canada 13th, Georgia 14th and U.S.A. 17th.

I would assume that if the Italy game is played in Toronto that either the Georgia or U.S.A. home test will be played in Vancouver(or at least BC) with the other home match going elsewhere, Alberta or Newfoundland perhaps. Venues as I said earlier have yet to be confirmed as many of the facilities are shared with either a professional soccer team or are university facilities.

Special thanks to Melhor Time for notifying me of the information on the Rugby Canada website.

 

[LittleGuy]

I hope that Georgia, USA and Canada will have all Top 14/Premiership/raboDirect 12 players available

I would think so unless the team they are on goes very deep into their leagues playoffs, Jamie Cudmore missed a Churchill Cup game last year because Clermont advanced so far in the Top 14.

 

[CDN_Rugby]

Fantastic to see quality fixtures for the midyear internationals. With Italy visiting us, I don't think an upset is impossible. Hopefully BMO Field will be rockin!

 

[LittleGuy]

Fantastic to see quality fixtures for the midyear internationals. With Italy visiting us, I don't think an upset is impossible. Hopefully BMO Field will be rockin!

I for one won't be missing the Churchill Cup if we can expect June fixtures as good as these in the future, four compelling match ups.

 

[Melhor Time]

Ideas or suggestions of venues.....

 

[LittleGuy]

I'd like to see something like this as the venues.


June 9th. vs USA, St. John's NF or Calgary AB.
June 16th vs Italy, BMO Field, Toronto ON
June 23rd vs. Georgia, Vancouver BC
June 30th @ USA, Glendale Colorado

 

[Melhor Time]

I'd like to see something like this as the venues.


June 9th. vs USA, St. John's NF or Calgary AB.
June 16th vs Italy, BMO Field, Toronto ON
June 23rd vs. Georgia, Vancouver BC
June 30th @ USA, Glendale Colorado

That looks about right. Now that there are the four Canadian sides (The Rock, Wolfpack, Blues and Bears) its likely that rugbycanada are to utilize them for international purposes. I am wanting the USA vs Canada to be at a larger venue than Glendale.

 

[LittleGuy]

That looks about right. Now that there are the four Canadian sides (The Rock, Wolfpack, Blues and Bears) its likely that rugbycanada are to utilize them for international purposes. I am wanting the USA vs Canada to be at a larger venue than Glendale.

I would like this as well though I hope they don't put the game in 40C weather in South Carolina like they did in 2009 which caused a sloppy and defensive game. I think that a game in Calgary or St. Johns for the Canadian leg would draw at least 5,000 if not more if they can fit them in to the ground. I expect a big crowd in Toronto for the Italy game and BC fans should be excited to get a home test after what has been a long break for them as well Georgia are a quality opponent.

 

[Melhor Time]

Agreed.

The 2008 USA vs Canada match in Chicage was a big hit.

What´s the Vancouver venues these days? Is it still Thunderbird Park?

 

[coh]

Anyone ever heard of commonwealth stadium... ahem

 

[CDN_Rugby]

Anyone ever heard of commonwealth stadium... ahem

Not a very good place to hold a test match considering it holds 70,000 people. When only 10,000 people show up it will look pretty empty.

 

[Deadmonton]

That'd be 9000 more people then when we had a soccer team playing there. I hope Edmonton gets one, would be nice to finally see a live game of rugby.

 

[Toko_11]

Great!! looking forward to this very much.. I hope our strongest team will show up for the Americas summer Tour... Thanks god we managed to organize something like a tour after all these years.

 

[Toko_11]

Great!! looking forward to this very much.. I hope our strongest team will show up for the Americas summer Tour... Thanks god we managed to organize something like a tour after all these years.
Kleeberger vs Gorgodze now that is a clash we all would love to see.... as well as Clever vs Gorgodze

 

[formerlyfastwing]

That'd be 9000 more people then when we had a soccer team playing there. I hope Edmonton gets one, would be nice to finally see a live game of rugby.

you could drive to the south side of your city any saturday in the summer and see live rugby.......

 

[LittleGuy]

Anyone ever heard of commonwealth stadium... ahem

I love Commonwealth and it does have natural grass but as CDN_Rugby said it's so much larger than what kind of crowd would come, it sometimes dosen't even look that good for CFL games where 30,000 show up and the upper bowl is mostly empty. The last game played in Edmonton was in July of 2009 vs. the States and was held at Ellersie park, it was the 2nd leg of the RWC qualification.

St. Johns hasn't hosted a game in some time I think the 2006 RWC qualifier was held there were Canada won 56-7 over the States. Thats why I threw that out there as an option and Calgary has the CRC facilities and is only a day trip away from several million potential fans.

 

[Jayatron]

I think with the performance of both Canada and Georgia in recent world cups and with this good schedule of matches it is a good time to be Canadian and Georgian!!

I should mention that mighty Eagle side as well. Since their RWC performance Iv'e developed a man crush on Todd Clever!

 

[LittleGuy]

I think with the performance of both Canada and Georgia in recent world cups and with this good schedule of matches it is a good time to be Canadian and Georgian!!

I should mention that mighty Eagle side as well. Since their RWC performance Iv'e developed a man crush on Todd Clever!

I'm a big fan of Todd Clever as well, he was immense in the game in August where I saw him live in Toronto. I would assume Georgia will also be playing in the States as part of their tour, great news for Georgian fans.

 

[Seaton]

I hope for Canada's sake that van de Merwe recovers from his shoulder surgery in time, but at this stage it looks like he could be out for the rest of Glasgow's season.

 

[LittleGuy]

I hope for Canada's sake that van de Merwe recovers from his shoulder surgery in time, but at this stage it looks like he could be out for the rest of Glasgow's season.

Devastating news for Glasgow and it would be pretty bad for Canada in June if he were unavailable. He just adds so much impact and allows for more combinations to be used, otherwise Evans will almost certainly have to play CT, with Pritchard at FB and the other CT probably being Trainor then Mackenzie and possibly Hearn on the wings.

Canada was already struggling to fill the #12 jersey a bit so having our #13 out is not good news, not sure if Ryan Smith will be available as I heard he was to retire(but haven't heard confirmation yet), and to be frank I think he would go out on a high he played the best rugby for Canada in a long time at the RWC when many of us were questioning his inclusion on the roster I think he would struggle with the United States quicker backs although he might be effective against Georgia and Italy two teams noted more for their forward play.