Canada Men's Head Coach Stephen Meehan has named his side to face the USA Friday night in Calgary.
This game is the opening match of the Pacific Nations Cup and also a key match in both teams' journey to qualification to the Rugby World Cup 2027. The match will kick off at 6pm PT / 7pm MT / 9pm ET on August 22 at McMahon Stadium in Calgary. The winner will almost certainly garner qualification to the World Cup (some other things have to happen to guarantee that) but the loser will still have a path to Australia 2027.
Tyler Ardron returns to the Canada team for the first time since he made the last of his 38 appearances in the RWC 2023 qualifier defeat to Chile in 2021. He has played Castres Olympique in the French Top 14 for the past five years and is a massive addition at No. 8. He partners with Lucas Rumball and Matthew Oworu to make a formidable back row.
“The effort and understanding the team has shown in training has been very good,” Meehan said. “Competition for starting XV and reserves was high and this demonstrates the depth we’re building. It’s now time to execute what we’ve practiced. This begins on Friday evening in the Pacific Nations Cup with a strong performance against the USA.”
