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Five players will make their run-on debuts for Canada against the Argentina XV in the opening round of the 2017 Americas Rugby Championship on Saturday. Caps will not be awarded as the match does not have full test status, but Head Coach Mark Anscombe has given chances for several young players to impress in the difficult opening match against the defending champions.
Eric Howard gets the nod at hooker with France-based semi-pro Benoît Pifféro named on the bench and 20-year-old Pau academy prospect Matt Tierney. Conor Keys partners Liam Chisholm in an all-UVic second row, and Oxford-born Wolf Pack flyhalf Robbie Povey will make his ARC debut outside captain Gordon McRorie. At fullback there is a rookie of a different kind as 32-year-old Carl Pocock runs out with a maple leaf crest some 10 years after representing Canada East in the now-defunct NA4 competition.
The reserves list contains five uncapped players, including a trio of teenagers in prop Cole Keith, flanker Matt Beukeboom, and centre George Barton. New Zealand-based second row Reegan O’Gorman is set to see his first senior international action while Guiseppe du Toit has been called into the squad having previously represented Canada ‘A’, most recently during the Americas Pacific Challenge last October.
Langford’s Westhills Stadium will play host to the game with kickoff set for 5pm local time, 8pm Eastern. The match will be broadcast live on TSN GO, with a replay on TSN1 slated for 8pm Pacific, 11pm Eastern.
CANADA
1 Rob Brouwer, 2 Eric Howard, 3 Matt Tierney, 4 Conor Keys, 5 Liam Chisholm, 6 Admir Cejvanovic, 7 Lucas Rumball, 8 Clay Panga, 9 Gordon McRorie (capt.), 10 Robbie Povey, 11 Taylor Paris, 12 Nick Blevins, 13 Brock Staller, 14 Dan Moor, 15 Carl Pocock
RESERVES: 16 Benoît Pifféro, 17 Djustice Sears-Duru, 18 Cole Keith, 19 Reegan O’Gorman, 20 Matt Beukeboom, 21 Phil Mack, 22 Guiseppe du Toit, 23 George Barton
