Preview: Canada vs Scotland (09-06-18)

Commonwealth Stadium, Edmonton
Local time kick off 19:10
NZ Kick Off – 13:10, Sun 10 Jun 2018
Referee: Shuhei Kubo (Japan)
Assistant referees: George Clancy (Ireland), Derek Summers (USA)
TMO: Graham Hughes (England)

CAN (on 61.98 points) at home -vs- SCO (on 83.83 points)

RR WORLD RANKINGS

Possible Outcome	Rating Point Exchange	New CAN Rating	New SCO Rating	Will CAN overtake SCO?
If CAN win by 1-15 points	2.000	63.98	81.83	No
If CAN win by more than 15	3.000	64.98	80.83	No
If result is a draw	1.000	62.98	82.83	No
If SCO win by 1-15 points	0.000	61.98	83.83	No
If SCO win by more than 15	0.000	61.98	83.83	No

Scotland will be looking to try out a few new combinations when they take on Canada at Commonwealth Stadium in Edmonton on Saturday.

Only one player – Fraser Brown – remains from the side that played Italy in Rome in the final match of the Six Nations. It could have been none, had Stuart McInally not been a late withdrawal from the touring squad.

Head coach Gregor Townsend has named Grant Gilchrist to captain the side in McInally’s absence.

Such is the inexperience of this side that midfield pairing Chris Harris and James Lang have only two caps between them. Lang, along with openside flanker James Ritchie, are making their debuts, while Lewis Carmichael and Adam Hastings are set to win their first caps off the bench.

Scotland face USA and then Argentina in their next matches on tour and Townsend is clearly taking this opportunity to blood some players before the nitty-gritty of the Six Nations and World Cup next year.

Townsend has built on the successful platform set by Vern Cotter and continued the side’s upward trajectory, the highlights of his tenure thus far being breaking the Calcutta Cup drought that had stood for 10 long years earlier this year as well as beating Australia in Sydney and running the All Blacks close at Murrayfield in 2017.

Meanwhile, Canada are on a torrid run of form, having lost to Samoa, Georgia and Romania (twice) recently. The absence of Tyler Ardron due to injury is a significant blow for the Canadians but in players like DTH van der Merwe, Nick Blevins and Phil Mack there is experience to guide the younger players in the side.

On the challenge of facing Scotland, Canada head coach Kingsley Jones gave insight into what he expected ahead of the game.

“They’re a top side. Gregor Townsend is a very good coach, very positive and we’re expecting a fast game. They’ll try to create opportunities from turnovers and offload the ball so it’s going to be an exciting game for the spectator,” Jones said.

Previous results:

2014: Scotland won 19-17 in Toronto
2008: Scotland won 41-00 in Aberdeen
2002: Canada won 26-23 in Vancouver
1995: Scotland won 22-06 in Edinburgh

The teams:

Canada: 15 Pat Parfrey, 14 Jeff Hassler, 13 Doug Fraser, 12 Nick Blevins, 11 DTH van der Merwe (c), 10 Shane O’Leary, 9 Phil Mack (cc), 8 Luke Campbell, 7 Matt Heaton, 6 Lucas Rumball, 5 Evan Olmstead, 4 Paul Ciulini, 3 Jake Ilnicki, 2 Ray Barkwill, 1 Noah Barker
Replacements: 16 Eric Howard, 17 Djustice Sears-Duru, 18 Cole Keith, 19 Conor Keys, 20 Dustin Dobravsky, 21 Andrew Ferguson, 22 Cole Davis, 23 Theo Sauder

Scotland: 15 Blair Kinghorn, 14 Lee Jones, 13 Chris Harris, 12 James Lang, 11 Byron McGuigan, 10 Ruaridh Jackson, 9 Sam Hidalgo-Clyne, 8 David Denton, 7 Jamie Ritchie, 6 Magnus Bradbury, 5 Grant Gilchrist (c), 4 Ben Toolis, 3 Simon Berghan, 2 Fraser Brown, 1 Allan Dell
Replacements: 16 George Turner, 17 Jamie Bhatti, 18 Murray McCallum, 19 Lewis Carmichael, 20 Luke Hamilton, 21 Ali Price, 22 Adam Hastings, 23 Mark Bennett

Date: Saturday, June 9
Venue: Commonwealth Stadium, Edmonton
Kick-off: 19:10 local (02:10 BST, 01:10 GMT)
Referee: Shuhei Kubo (Japan)
Assistant referees: George Clancy (Ireland), Derek Summers (USA)
TMO: Graham Hughes (England)