Canada will face Namibia on Sunday, October 13 at Kamaishi Recovery Memorial Stadium, Iwate Prefecture, Kamaishi City. Kickoff is at 12:15 local time (23:15 ET Sat). In the U.S, the match may be viewed on-demand on NBC Sports Gold and on TSN 1 and 4 in Canada.
Typhoon Hagibis, whose path will impact the center of Japan is expected on Saturday. A matchday decision will be made whether the match will be played.
Both teams are seeking their first win at the 2019 Rugby World Cup. Namibia has lost 47-22 to Italy, 57-3 to South Africa, and 71-9 to New Zealand. Canada lost to 48-7 to Italy, 63-0 to New Zealand, and 66-7 to South Africa.
The Saturday match between New Zealand and Italy was canceled due to Typhoon Hagibus which resulted in a draw. That decision impacted Italy, who had a chance of advancing to the quarterfinals if it upset the All Blacks. While the safety concerns are paramount when disasters strike, the decision created an uproar that the integrity of the game is a stake and that with effort, the match could have been played elsewhere or played a couple of days later. That would mean logistic issues and expensive for everyone concerned.
Pool standings have New Zealand with 16 points, South Africa 15, Italy 12, with Namibia and Canada with zero.
Canada
Canada coach Kingsley Jones has made five changes in his starters from the loss to South Africa. The match against Namibia is the team’s last chance for a win at the 2019 Rugby World Cup and Canada will field an experienced side.
Captain Tyler Ardron, Jeff Hassler, Conor Trainor, Ciaran Hearn, Gordon McRorie and DTH van der Merwe, represent almost 50 RWC matches’ worth of experience.
Gordon McRorie and Patrick Parfrey will start at scrumhalf and fullback, respectively. Djustice Sears-Duru, Eric Howard, and Conor Keys will be at loosehead prop, hooker, and at lock.
DTH Van der Merwe has come close to scoring tries at this Rugby World Cup. Should he do so in this final match, he would become one of five players in history to score at least one try at four different World Cups. Wales’s Gareth Thomas, Samoa’s Brian Lima, Australia’s Adam Ashley-Cooper and Ireland’s Brian O’Driscoll have already accomplished this. Van der Merwe has already made history by becoming the Canadian player with the most RWC appearances with 15.
An Injury to Mike Sheppard and a red card by Josh Larsenhave led to a call up of Dustin Dobravsky to fill a reserve need at lock. Dobravsky flew in on Wednesday to replace Mike Sheppard.
Jones has used his entire bench during Canada’s previous matches, so expect Dobravsky to contribute at some point in the match.
Namibia
Namibia has made six changes to their starters since their loss to the All Blacks. Aranos Coetzee returns at tighthead prop, Johan Retief is at lock in place of injured PJ van Lill, and Wian Conradie is the openside flanker.
Changes were also made in the halfbacks with Eugene Jantjies and Cliven Loubser at scrumhalf and at flyhalf, respectively. Captain Johan Deysel slides from inside to outside center with Darryl de la Harpe at inside.
Squads
Namibia: 1 André Rademeyer, 2 Torsten van Jaarsveld, 3 Aranos Coetzee, 4 Johan Retief, 5 Tjiuee Uanivi, 6 Prince Gaoseb, 7 Wian Conradie, 8 Janco Venter, 9 Eugene Jantjies, 10 Cliven Loubser, 11 JC Greyling, 12 Darryl de la Harpe, 13 Johan Deysel (capt.), 14 Lesley Klim, 15 Johann Tromp 16 Louis van der Westhuizen, 17 AJ de Klerk, 18 Desiderius Sethie, 19 Max Katjijeko, 20 Rohan Kitshoff, 21 Damian Stevens, 22 TC Kisting, 23 Chad Plato
Canada: 1. Djustice Sears-Duru 2. Eric Howard 3. Jake Ilnicki 4. Evan Olmstead 5. Conor Keys 6. Lucas Rumball 7. Matthew Heaton 8. Tyler Ardron (capt.) 9. Gordon McRorie 10. Peter Nelson 11. DTH van der Merwe 12. Ciaran Hearn 13. Conor Trainor 14. Jeff Hassler 15. Patrick Parfrey 16. Andrew Quattrin 17. Hubert Buydens 18. Matthew Tierney 19. Luke Campbell 20. Dustin Dobravsky 21. Jamie Mackenzie 22. Shane O’Leary 23. Andrew Coe
Referee: Paul Williams (New Zealand)
Assistant Referees: Pascal Gaüzère (France) & Federico Anselmi (Argentina)
TMO: Marius Jonker (South Africa)
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