Time for round two of the Americas Rugby Championship. The Jaguars should have little trouble with Los Teros, but the big question is whether Canada can rebound against the Americans.
URUGUAY vs ARGENTINA
Tuesday, October 15, 18:00 PST, Langford
English stream: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OA-GPkCPodc
Spanish stream: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iHltalNQUR8
Los Teros have switched up most of their team, with only six of the side that faced Canada remaining. Argentina have similarly brought in most of their reserves, making this very much a third string at best encounter.
Despite Uruguay’s decent showing against Canada they should be very much under the pump in this one. Even Argentina’s reserves have a classy look about them and they should have this one wrapped up inside twenty minutes. Barring poor weather, expect a blowout. Jaguars win by at least 40.
URUGUAY
Gaston Mieres; Santiago Martinez, Santiago Core, Rodrigo de Pazos, Juan Andres Pena; Rodrigo Silva, Agustin Indarte; Juan Etcheverria, Arturo Avalo (capt.), Juan Rombys; Mateo Sanguinetti, Santiago Vilaseca; Agustin Alonso, Fernando Bascou, Franco Lammana. RES: Jose Astigarraga, Rodolfo de Mula, Francisco Jimenez, Matias Beer, Juan de Freitas, Alejo Duran, Joaquin Prada, Andres Vilaseca.
ARGENTINA
Ramiro Moyano; Dan Isaack, Matias Orlando, Juan Cappiello, Joaquin Tuculet (capt.); Patricio Fernandez, Gonzalo Bertranou; Roberto Tejerizo, Julian Montoya, Esteban Viale; Matias Alemanno, Juan Martin Guerineau; Martin Chiappesoni, Fidel Lamy, Lucas Paschini. RES: Martin Garcia Veiga, Ignacio Saenz, Matias Diaz, Guido Petti, Joaquin Camacho, Pedro Imhoff, Sebastien Poet, Javier Rojas.
CANADA vs UNITED STATES
Tuesday, October 15, 20:00 PST, Langford
English stream: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWuDBwYwAfI
Spanish stream: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gbziHznKhww
The Canucks have been forced to call up reinforcements in the form of reserve prop Djustice Sears-Duru and most notably untested UVic flyhalf Guiseppe du Toit. Jack Fitzpatrick has moved back to fullback to accommodate, while Jordan Wilson-Ross starts on the wing. Sean White returns at scrumhalf in place of Jamie Mackenzie. Ryan March makes his senior level debut in the front row beside Ray Barkwill and Doug Wooldridge, and PEI’s Kyle Baillie gets a run in the second row. The back row contains three specialist openside flankers, perhaps an indication that Canada are prepared to play quickly.
The Americans have brought Tim Maupin and Joe Cowley into the outside backs, and rotated props Nick Wallace and Chris Sullivan in. Tai Tuisamoa comes into the second row, and Derek Asbun replaces injured Liam Murphy on the flank. Big lock John Cullen has been added to the squad and should make his representative debut at some point.
This is a difficult one to call given Canada’s poor performance against Uruguay. Normally one would expect them to win, especially at home, but this is not a convincing lineup in the slightest and this is a massive ask for du Toit to step up on such short notice. The Americans were hardly impressive either against Argentina, but there just might be enough there to sneak an upset. Or maybe not? How about a bold prediction – the two sides play to a draw!
CANADA
Jack Fitzpatrick; Duncan Maguire, Conor Trainor, Mike Scholz, Jordan Wilson-Ross; Guiseppe du Toit, Sean White; Doug Wooldridge, Ray Barkwill, Ryan March; Hank McQueen, Kyle Baillie; Kyle Gilmour, Alistair Clark, Adam Kleeberger (capt.). RES: Djustice Sears-Duru, Jake Ilnicki, Aaron Flagg, Callum Morrison, Matt Heaton, Jamie Mackenzie, Adam McQueen, Joe Dolesau.
UNITED STATES
Joe Cowley; Pita Moala, Chris Chapman, Milemoti Pulu, Tim Maupin; Toby L’Estrange, Shaun Davies; Nick Wallace, Phil Thiel, Chris Sullivan; Tai Tuisamoa, Graham Harriman; Danny Barrett, Derek Asbun, Cameron Dolan (capt.). RES: Cameron Falcon, Titi Lamositele, Shawn Pittman, John Cullen, Trevor Cassidy, Chris Saint, Maximo de Achaval, Mark Roberts.
