Post by Jamie Crawford on Aug 15, 2016 15:00:26 GMT
Castle Park, KO 2.30
After our 34-12 defeat to the Falcons last Saturday we face a Canada rugby team that (if I understand it correctly) is comprised of eleven full Canada Internationals plus seventeen of the best and up-and-coming talent from the Canadian Championship, equivalent to our Premiership. Lessons were learned from the loss to the Falcons (as they also learnt from their victory), “Doncaster Knights kicked off their trio of pre-season fixtures with a 34-12 defeat away at Premiership outfit Newcastle Falcons but, despite the score line, can take plenty of positives from a fixture that was evenly match in many aspects for the vast majority.…
…Overall, not a bad performance from the Knights who showed plenty of glimpses against this well-drilled Premiership outfit there is still, however, plenty to be done before the Championship begins next month. ” (DRFC website)
Officially the squad is comprised of 28 players selected from the Canadian Rugby Championship – the country’s flagship domestic regional competition. It features 11 players (in bold) who have test caps to their name in Kyle Baillie, Nanyak Dala, Matt Heaton, Phil Mackenzie, Gordon McRorie, Dan Moor, Pat Parfrey, Benoit Piffero, Mozac Samson, Brock Staller and Jordan Wilson-Ross.
“We’re looking to develop our player depth on this tour,” Anscombe said. “We want to see if the players that played well during the Canadian Rugby Championships can step up and play at a higher level.” (International rugby)
This is shaping up to be a very stern test for the Knights against a team that Griff knows well from his days coaching the Cannucks. The full Canadian rugby team are currently ranked eighteenth in the World; in front of Uruguay, Namibia, Russia etc but four behind Samoa and three behind Tonga, so a good team. As mentioned Griff used to coach them and Michael Heaney has been coached at Ulster by their current coach, so there’ll be some great after-match reunions and hopefully some insight into players and styles of play.
Canada Squad (Name, club, hometown):
Lucas Albornoz – (Burnaby Lake RFC/Prairie Wolf Pack) Vancouver, BC
Kyle Baillie – (Ohio/Atlantic Rock) Summerside, PEI?
Admir Cejvanovic – (Burnaby Lake RFC/BC Bears) Burnaby, BC
Nanyak Dala – (Castaway Wanderers/Prairie Wolf Pack) Saskatoon, SK
Matt Heaton – (Darlington Mowden Park/Atlantic Rock) Godmanchester, QC
Peter Houlihan – (Strathcona Druids/Prairie Wolf Pack) Calgary, AB
Daniel Joyce – (Dublin University Football Club) Greystones, Co. Wicklow, Ireland
Conor Keys – (UVic Vikes/Atlantic Rock) Stittsville, ON
Ryan Kotlewski – (Calgary Saints/Prairie Wolf Pack) Calgary, AB
Ben LeSage – (UBC Thunderbirds/Prairie Wolf Pack) Calgary, AB
Kainoa Lloyd – (Mississauga Blues/Ontario Blues) Mississauga, ON
Anthony Luca – (Burnaby Lake RFC/BC Bears) Burnaby, BC
Phil Mackenzie – (San Diego/Ontario Blues) Oakville, ON
Alex Mascott – (UBC Thunderbirds/BC Bears) Langley, BC
Cody McClary – (Port Alberni RFC/BC Bears) Port Alberni, BC
Aidan McMullan – (Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue RFC/Atlantic Rock) Montreal, QC
Gordon McRorie – (Calgary Hornets/Prairie Wolf Pack) Calgary, AB
Dan Moor – (Balmy Beach RFC/Ontario Blues) Toronto, ON
Oliver Nott – (UVic Vikes/BC Bears) Qualicum, BC
Pat Parfrey – (Swilers RFC/Atlantic Rock) St. John’s, NL
Benoit Piffero – (Blagnac Sporting Rugby Club/Atlantic Rock) Montreal, QC
Robbie Povey – (Bedford Athletic/Prairie Wolf Pack) Northampton, England
Mozac Samson – (Calgary Saints/Prairie Wolf Pack) Calgary, AB
Brock Staller – (UBC Thunderbirds/BC Bears) Vancouver, BC
Adrian Wadden – (Oakville Crusaders/Ontario Blues) Mississauga, ON
Jordan Wilson-Ross – (James Bay AA/Ontario Blues) Alliston, ON
COYK
DONNY, DONNY, DONNY...
