CANADA WILL BE without captain Tyler Ardron for Saturday’s Rugby World Cup Pool D opener against Ireland in Cardiff (KO 2.30pm).
The Ospreys flanker has been unable to shake off a knee injury picked up at the Pacific Nations cup this summer and will hand over the metaphorical armband to Clermont lock Jamie Cudmore.
Cudmore, an infamous adversary of Ireland captain Paul O’Connell, will captain the side for the first time at a World Cup in his fourth time at the tournament and partners Cornish Pirates’ Brett Beukeboom in the second row.
His club-mate in England Aaron Carpenter is Canada’s second most capped player with almost twice Cudmore’s cap haul. He packs down at number eight, flanked by Rotherham Titans’ Kyle Gilmour and Ontario-based openside John Moonlight.
Behind the pack, regular Pro12 watchers will be more than familiar with wingers DTH van der Merwe (who moved from Glasgow to Scarlets this year) and Jeff Hassler (Ospreys). The back three is completed by another Cornish Pirate, Matt Evans.
Head coach Kieran Crowley has named home-based players in the rest of the back-line with Nick Blevins and Ciaran Hearn in midfield behind the half-back pairing of Gordon McRorie and Nathan Hirayama.
Canada (v Ireland)
15. Matt Evans
14. Jeff Hassler
13. Ciaran Hearn
12. Nick Blevins
11. DTH van der Merwe
10. Nathan hirayama
9. Gordon McRorie
1. Hubert Buydens
2. Ray Barkwill
3. Doug Woolridge
4. Brett Beukeboom
5. Jamie Cudmore (captain)
6. Kyle Gilmour
7. John Moonlight
8. Aaron Carpenter
Replacements:
16. Benoir Piffero
17. Djustice Sears-Duru
18. Andrew Tiedermann
19. Jebb Sinclair
20. Richard Thorpe
21. Phil Mack
22. Liam Underwood
23. Conor Trainor.
