Canada will face Scotland in a men’s senior international for world ranking points at Mansfield Park, Hawick tomorrow (Sunday) in the second game of their European tour (kick off 3pm, local time). The hosts could give out six debuts to Roserutabua Tawanayavulala, Ollie Maher, Joe Lowe, Tom Gray, Connor Slader and Lachlann Forsyth, in what is being seen as the beginning of a new era for the Bravehearts.
Scotland men’s head coach, Adam Houston, said: ”We’re looking forward to playing the first senior men’s full international in Scotland for some time. We don’t know much about the Canada team but I watched their game against Norway and identified a couple of areas where I think we can cause them trouble.
“We have a good group of players in both this and the extended squad and the fact that players could earn their first cap on Sunday, stepping up from the trial game against The Navy last week, shows the pathways are effective. Hawick is a great venue and the club and town has a lot of history with rugby league, so I hope that we can get a good crowd down to cheer the lads on.”
The Wolverines are forced into three changes from the side that defeated Norway 56-6 on Thursday, with Blake Marshall, Dillon Goos and Kyle Yurkiw all unavailable due to injuries, Greg Wise, Jordan Cella and Jacob Bourne coming into the squad.
“Thursday night was a tremendous performance and a real statement of intent from this group,” noted Canada men’s head coach Aaron Zimmerle. “To win by that margin against a quality side in our first ever Test against Norway gives us enormous confidence.
“Scotland sit 27th in the IRL World Rankings just two places above us so this is another opportunity to prove what this programme is capable of. We showed on Thursday what we can produce when we play to our potential, and we’ll be looking for a similar performance against a Scottish side that will provide a very different and highly competitive challenge.
“We’re building something and Canadian Rugby League is on the rise. This is another opportunity to show what we are capable of.”
Scotland (squad): Hamish BENTLEY (Baroudeurs de Pia XIII), George SHANNON, TAWA ROSERUTABUA (Edinburgh Eagles), Cameron CULLEN, Oliver Maher (Leeds Beckett), Kieran MORAN (Midlands Hurricanes), Ben MORRIS (Newcastle Lightning), Conner TERRILL (North Wales Crusaders), Ross WHITMORE (Rochdale Hornets), Joseph LOWE (Rochdale Mayfield), Jacob GRIERSON (Siddal), Tom GRAY (Skirlaugh), Connor SLADER (Tayside Silverbacks), Brett CARTER (Unattached), Andrew BROWN, Gregor COWAN, Jordan DUNCAN, Lachlann FORSYTH, Naill HALL (West End Warriors)
Canada (squad): Jason CHUCK (Brampton Beavers), Charles CURRAN, Ethan CHANTLER, Gregory Wise (Brantford Broncos), Doug HOWARD (Leichhardt Wanderers), Jordan CELLA (North Wales Crusaders), Jacob BOURNE (Point Grey Thunder), Augustus MURPHY, Luka WICKEN (Royal City Goons), Matthew FISH, Mitchell TALBOT, Nathan ROBERTS, Richard LEBEL (Tavistock Trash Pandas), Fynn MURPHY, Jalen HARRISON, Oliver LENAHAN (Vancouver Valley Vipers), Blake MAHOVIC, Michael SNOOK, Toby HORN (Whistler Wolves)
