Rugby Canada – 14 Rugby World Cup 2015 veterans named to Canada’s Men’s Team training camp squad by Head Coach Mark Anscombe; Canada to face Japan, Russia and Italy in Vancouver, Calgary and Toronto this June

LANGFORD, BC – Canada’s Senior Men’s Team Head Coach Mark Anscombe has named his 35-man training camp roster ahead of this June’s international Summer Series. The team features 14 returnees from last year’s Rugby World Cup (RWC) squad while a number of players who impressed during the Americas Rugby Championship (ARC) are also included.

“I’m excited to have sat down with the rest of our coaching staff and selected the group we’re taking to camp,” Anscombe said. “We’re now looking forward to getting together and start working as a team next week.”

Players will begin assembling in camp on May 28 at Shawnigan Lake School on Vancouver Island. Upon completion of the camp on June 5, a squad of 28 will be selected ahead of the June 11 test match against Japan at BC Place.

Jamie Cudmore, Ciaran Hearn, Jake Ilnicki, Djustice Sears-Duru, Ray Barkwill, Hubert Buydens, Evan Olmstead, Kyle Gilmour, Aaron Carpenter, Jamie Mackenzie, Gordon McRorie, Nick Blevins, Pat Parfrey and Matt Evans are all included from last year’s RWC squad.

After standout performances during the inaugural ARC earlier this year, Lucas Rumball, Dan Moor, Kyle Baillie, Eric Howard, Paul Ciulini, Alistair Clark, Clay Panga, Andrew Ferguson, Ryan Kotlewski, Mozac Samson and Brock Staller are also invited to camp.

The roster also includes eight players who have yet to earn a test camp in Dylan Horgan, Matt Tierney, Guiseppe du Toit, Trenton Cooper, Matt Heaton, Ben LeSage, Andrew Quattrin and Theo Sauder while previously capped Jordan Wilson-Ross, Cam Pierce and Tom Dolezel are also included.

Hearn and Taylor Paris’ selection is subject to their involvement in the Olympic repechage qualification tournament in Monaco.

A number of players are unavailable for selection due to injuries picked up during their domestic seasons, including: Tyler Ardron, DTH van der Merwe, Jeff Hassler, Jebb Sinclair, Brett Beukeboom and Jason Marshall.

“In rugby that’s the way it is now,” Anscombe said of injuries. “However, the exciting thing about injuries is it creates opportunity for other guys and gives us a chance to showcase some younger players and see how they play while expanding our depth.”

With three exciting test matches against top competition taking place in front of home fans across the country, Canada will look to #RiseAsOne this June as they begin the qualification process towards booking their spot for the 2019 Rugby World Cup in Japan.

The game against 10^th ranked Japan will add another chapter to Canadian rugby history by being the first ever test match held at BC Place in Vancouver, B.C. Earlier this year, the world-class stadium held the inaugural HSBC Canada Men’s Sevens, where more than 60,000 fans packed in over two days to set a new Canadian rugby attendance record.

Canada will then head to Calgary to face 19^th ranked Russia at the Calgary Rugby Park, signifying the return of men’s test rugby to the city for the first time in more than a decade on June 18.

Canada’s Summer Series will come to an end on June 26 at the newly renovated BMO Field in downtown Toronto where they square off against Italy in a rematch of their 2015 RWC pool match that was narrowly won 23-18 by the 14^th seeded Azzuri.

“We have three really challenging tests against quality teams,” Anscombe said. “These tests will give us a great opportunity to find out a little bit more about our ourselves, test our strengths and allow us to find the key areas we must develop to improve at this level as we begin the process towards the 2019 Rugby World Cup.”

Tickets to all three games are still available and can be purchased at http://events.rugbycanada.ca 

Canada’s Senior Men’s Summer Series Training Camp Squad (Name, club, hometown):

Kyle Baillie – (Ohio/Atlantic Rock) Summerside, PEI

Ray Barkwill – (Sacramento/Ontario Blues) Niagara Falls, ON

Nick Blevins – (San Francisco/Prairie Wolf Pack) Calgary, AB

Hubert Buydens – (San Diego/Prairie Wolf Pack) Saskatoon, SK

Aaron Carpenter – (Cornish Pirates/Ontario Blues) Brantford, ON 

Paul Ciulini – (Aurora Barbarians/Ontario Blues) Vaughan, ON

Alistair Clark – (Bay Street Pigs/Ontario Blues) Oakville, ON

Trenton Cooper (Oshawa Vikings/Ontario Blues), Zephyr, ON

Jamie Cudmore – (Clermont Auvergne) Squamish, BC

Tom Dolezel – (London St. George’s/Ontario Blues) London, ON 

Guiseppe du Toit – (UVIC Vikes/BC Bears) Maple Ridge, BC

Matt Evans – (Cornish Pirates) Maple Bay, BC

Andrew Ferguson – (Oakville Crusaders/Ontario Blues) Mississauga, ON

Kyle Gilmour – (St. Albert RFC/Prairie Wolf Pack) St. Albert, AB

Ciaran Hearn – (London Irish/Atlantic Rock) Conception Bay South, NL

Matt Heaton – (Darlington Mowden Park/Atlantic Rock) Godmanchester, QC

Dylan Horgan – (UCC Rugby Club) Cork, Ireland

Eric Howard – (Brantford Harlequins/Ontario Blues) Ottawa, ON

Jake Ilnicki – (San Diego/BC Bears) Williams Lake, BC

Ryan Kotlewski – (Calgary Saints/Prairie Wolf Pack) Calgary, AB

Ben LeSage – (UBC Thunderbirds/Prairie Wolf Pack) Calgary, AB

Jamie Mackenzie – (UBCOB Ravens/Ontario Blues) Oakville, ON

Gordon McRorie – (Calgary Hornets/Prairie Wolf Pack) Calgary, AB

Dan Moor – (Balmy Beach RFC/Ontario Blues) Toronto, ON

Evan Olmstead – (Newcastle Falcons/Prairie Wolf Pack) Vancouver, BC

Clay Panga – (Westshore Valhallians/Prairie Wolf Pack) Calgary, AB

Pat Parfrey – (Swilers RFC/Atlantic Rock) St. John’s, NL

Taylor Paris – (Agen) Barrie, ON

Cam Pierce – (Section Paloise/Kelowna Crows) Vernon, BC

Andrew Quattrin – (Aurora Barbarians) Holland Landing, ON

Lucas Rumball – (Balmy Beach RFC/Ontario Blues) Scarborough, ON

Mozac Samson – (Calgary Saints/Prairie Wolf Pack) Calgary, AB

Theo Sauder – (UBC Thunderbirds) Vancouver, BC

Djustice Sears -Duru – (Glasgow Warriors/Ontario Blues) Oakville, ON

Brock Staller – (UBC Thunderbirds/BC Bears) Vancouver, BC

Matt Tierney – (Section Paloise/Ontario Blues) Oakville, ON

Jordan Wilson-Ross – (James Bay AA/Ontario Blues) Alliston, ON

Unavailable due to injury/personal reasons:

Tyler Ardron – (Ospreys) Lakefield, ON

Brett Beukeboom – (Cornish Pirates) Lindsay, ON

Gradyn Bowd – (UVIC Vikes/Prairie Wolf Pack) Calgary, AB

Jeff Hassler – (Ospreys) Okotoks, AB

Phil Mackenzie – (San Diego/Ontario Blues), Oakville, ON

Jason Marshall – (Agen/BC Bears) North Vancouver, BC

Callum Morrison – (UBCOB Ravens/BC Bears) Victoria, BC

Benoit Piffero – (Avenir Castaneén Rugby XV/Atlantic Rock) Montreal, QC

Jebb Sinclair – (London Irish/Atlantic Rock) Fredericton, NB

Andrew Tiedemann – (Bourgoin/Prairie Wolf Pack) St. Albert, AB

DTH van der Merwe – (Scarlets) Victoria, BC

Doug Wooldridge – (Lindsay RFC/Ontario Blues) Lindsay, ON 

Unavailable due to Rugby Sevens Olympic Repechage:

Nanyak Dala – (Castaway Wanderers/Prairie Wolf Pack) Saskatoon, SK

Nathan Hirayama – (UVIC Vikes/BC Bears) Vancouver, BC

Harry Jones – (Capilano RFC/BC Bears) North Vancouver, BC

Phil Mack – (James Bay AA/BC Bears) Victoria, BC

John Moonlight – (James Bay AA/Ontario Blues) Pickering, ON

Conor Trainor – (UBCOB Ravens/BC Bears) Vancouver, BC

Liam Underwood – (Balmy Beach RFC/Ontario Blues) Toronto, ON

Canada’s Senior Men’s Coaching Staff:

Head Coach – Mark Anscombe

Assistant Coach – Graeme Moffat

Assistant Coach, Forwards – Michael Shelley

Technical Consultant (Auckland Blues) – Paul Feeney

Head Strength & Conditioning – Michael Deasy

Analyst – Aaron Takel

Physiotherapist – Mallory White

Athletic Therapist – Jessica Smith

Tour Manager – Jim Kazakoff

Operations & Logistics Manager – Alana Gattinger

Canada’s Summer Series Schedule:

Canada vs. Japan — June 11^th

BC Place, 6pm ET/3pm PT

Canada vs. Russia — June 18^th

Calgary Rugby Park, 5pm ET/2pm PT

Canada vs. Italy — June 26^th

BMO Field, 12pm ET/9am PT

About Rugby Canada

Rugby Canada is the national governing  body  of  the  sport  of  rugby  union  in Canada.  Rugby Football has a  long  history  in  Canada  dating  back  to  its  initial appearance in the 1860s. Since 1974, Rugby Canada has been a permanent fixture on  the  global  rugby  scene,  including  trips  to  each  of  the eight Men’s Rugby  World Cups and seven Women’s Rugby World Cups. As a regular on the Men’s and Women’s HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series, Canada continues to climb the world rankings and challenge the dominant rugby nations in both versions of the game.

To support the growth of rugby at the grass-roots level and to ensure there are elite programs for prospering young rugby players to become involved with, Rugby Canada has put an emphasis on developing its junior programs.  Our goal is to develop and train competitive teams for the 2016 and 2020 Summer Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and Tokyo, Japan respectively, the 2017 Women’s Rugby World Cup in Ireland and 2019 Men’s Rugby World Cup in Japan. 

Twitter: www.twitter.com/RugbyCanada

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YouTube: www.youtube.com/RugbyCanada

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Website: www.rugbycanada.ca 

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For more information, please contact:

Bryan Kelly, Rugby Canada

Manager, Communications and Media Relations

Phone: 250-216-5272

Email: bkelly@rugbycanada.ca