USA Women's 15s Interim Head Coach Rich Ashfield has named his matchday 23 to face Canada in the Pacific Four test match Saturday.
Captain Kate Zackary again leads the charge in a game that will be live on FloRugby at 11AM ET. with University of Central Washington’s Tiara A’au in reserve, targeting her USA Eagles debut. USA vs Canada kicks off at 11:00AM ET, streaming LIVE on FloRugby.
“We were obviously happy to get the win against Spain last week but we understand we made very hard work of it," said Ashfield. "Our accuracy needs to improve and we know that some small adjustments can hopefully lead to some big gains. We capped eight new players last week and they all did well and have learned a lot from the experience. We have had a good week of practice and think we definitely have the strengths in the squad to cause Canada a lot of problems.”
Canada opened their 2023 campaign with a convincing 66-7 win over South Africa in Madrid last Saturday, with a number of core Rugby World Cup 2021 names and three debuts of their own.
Hope Rogers, who scored two tries against Spain, including the late game-winner, returns at loosehead prop. It's an experienced tight five, with all-time-great Alycia Washington back in the fold at lock. It's a high-level with back row with Zackary, Rachel Johnson, and Rachel Ehrecke.
McKenzie Hawkins, 2018 MA Sorensen Award-winner when she was at Lindenwood, returns at flyhalf, but with Carly Waters her scrumhalf this time around. Two of last week's debutantes, wing Autumn Czaplicki and center Jett Hayward, get a second start. Two more, Megan Neyen and current Sorensen nominee Kristin Bitter, are on the bench, as is potential debutante Tiara A'au out of Central Washington.