Americas Pacific Challenge: USA Selects Face Canada A

The USA Selects face Canada A in the final Americas Pacific Challenge match at 1 pm ET at Estadio Charrua in Montevideo, Uruguay. The USA Selects split their first two matches, losing to Samoa A 48-28 and beating Uruguay A 49-36 and are in second place in the standings. Canada A lost both their matches to a strong Argentina XV team 71-17 and then to Tonga A 31-15 and are in third place in their pool.

The teams are rivals and both want to win, however, the Americas Pacific Challenge is about providing addition high-performance matches for player development. With three matches in eight days, reserves see plenty of playing time.

The match will be broadcast on The Rugby Channel and on World Rugby outside the U.S.

USA Selects

The USA Selects Head Coach Scott Lawrence has made four changes in his starters from the team’s win against Uruguay A.

In the forwards, Alex Maughan and Matt Jensen return as starters at loosehead prop and lock, respectively. Hanco Germishuys also returns as a starter, but this time at No.8, with Aladdin Schirmer switching to flanker.

In the backs, Lemoto Filiktonga will start at outside center. JP Eloff switches to fullback and Tim Maupin and Josh Whippy switch sides at wing.

Canada A

Canada A Head Coach Mike Shelley has made eight changes and three positional changes to his starting XV from the match against Tonga A.

In the forwards, there are six changes, with five of the starters returning as starters from the opening match. These include loosehead prop Hubert Buydens, tighthead prop Cole Keith, lock Adrian Wadden, and flanker Lucas Rumball. Ray Barkwill moves to hooker and Dustin Dobravsky moves to No.8 from their reserve roles against Tonga A. Both Conor Keys and captain Kyle Gilmour retain their starting positions.

In the backs, Andrew Ferguson replaces Jorden Sandover-Best, Conor Desmond moves to the wing from outside center, Patrick Parfrey moves to inside-center, Mike Nieuwenhuysen returns to the starting XV and Guiseppe Du Toit moves to fullback.

Americas Pacific Challenge: The USA Selects vs. Canada A Squads

USA Selects: 1. Alex Maughan 2. Peter Malcolm (C) 3. Angus MacClellan 4. Matthew Jensen 5. Brendan Daly (VC) 6. Ben Landry 7. Aladdin Schirmer 8. Hanco Germishuys 9. Holden Yungert 10. Mike McCarthy 11. Tim Maupin 12. Bryce Campbell 13. Lemoto Filikitonga 14. Josh Whippy 15. Jean-Pierre Eloff16. Alex Vorster 17. Kelepi Fifita 18. Chance Wenglewski 19. Brendan Hardiman 20. Psalm Wooching 21. Ruben de Haas 22. Ben Cima 23. Mitch Wilson

Non-Playing Reserves: Huluholo Moungaloa, Jackson Kaka, Martini Talapusi, Zach Pangelinan

Canada A: 1. Hubert Buydens 2. Ray Barkwill 3. Cole Keith 4. Adrian Wadden 5. Conor Keys 6. Kyle Gilmour (C) 7. Lucas Rumball 8. Dustin Dobravsky 9. Andrew Ferguson 10. Robbie Povey 11. Conor Desmond 12. Patrick Parfrey 13. Mike Nieuwenhuysen 14. Kainoa Lloyd 15. Guiseppe du Toit 16. Martial Lagain 17. Liam Murray 18. Ryan Kotlewski 19. Liam Chisholm 20. Travis Larsen 21. Jorden Sandover-Best 22. Brett Johnson 23. Aidan McMullan

Non-playing reserves: Eric Howard, Rob Brouwer, Peter Milazzo, Mitchell Richardson