Canada and Russia face off for just the third time at Parc Eirias in Wales on Saturday with both sides looking to bounce back from heavy losses last week.
Canada were given a severe hiding last week by a rampant Samoan side that raced to a 42-0 lead before two late tries saved some pride for the North Americans.
Russia's game against the USA was a similar story as the Eagles totally dominated the opening hour before taking the foot off the gas and letting the Bears finish with 14-point deficit at 40-26.
Cadana lie seven places higher than Russia in the IRB World Rankings and have been reinforced by the arrival of Stormers flank Jebb Sinclair from South Africa, making them clear favourites.
Team Manager Gareth Rees praised his side for the strong finish against Samoa last week.
"They (Samoa) had so much of the ball during the first twenty minutes, we were going to give away penalties through being so tired at having to make so many tackles, while in attack we were wasting bodies at the clean-out," Rees told the official Rugby Canada website
"They were well beaten but they didn't quit. They showed they could score some tries, so they are quite positive. The overall feeling is that there was no lack of desire, just that they could may be have been a little more ruthless.
"I think Chauncey O'Toole was outstanding, on both sides of the ball. Connor Braid in attack had some good runs from ten. Then the subs went on, they made an impact. I know that the game had changed by that point, but Ryan Hamilton, Jeff Hassler and Nick Blevins all looked solid when they went on.
"Russia...were much improved in the second half. They are a good side, and we have been breaking them down on video. An eight day week this week gives us time to prepare for the game on Saturday."
Wing Matt Evans has been forced to return home for treatment on his injured quad along with Sean White who has a thumb injury.
Previous results:
2011: Canada won 34-18 in Esher
2009: Canada won 22-6 in Vancouver
The teams:
Canada: 15 James Pritchard, 14 Jeff Hassler, 13 Ciaran Hearn, 12 Nick Blevins, 11 Taylor Paris, 10 Harry Jones, 9 Eric Wilson, 8 Aaron Carpenter, 7 Chauncey O'Toole, 6 Tyler Ardon, 5 Tyler Hotson, 4 Jebb Sinclair, 3 Jason Marshall, 2 Ryan Hamilton, 1 Andrew Tiedemann.
Replacements: 16 Hubert Buydens, 17 Ray Barkwill, 18 Doug Wooldridge, 19 Jon Phelan, 20 John Moonlight, 21 Nanyak Dala, 22 Phil Mack.
Russia: 15 Igor Klyuchnikov, 14 Denis Simplikevich, 13 Vasily Artemyev, 12 Dmitry Gerasimov, 11 Vladimir Ostroushko, 10 Sergey Sugrobov, 9 Alexey Shcherban, 8 Victor Gresev, 7 Pavel Butenko, 6 Andrey Temnov, 5 Kirill Kulemin, 4 Alexander Voytov (capt), 3 Evgeny Pronenko, 2 Valery Tsnobiladze, 1 Grigory Tsnobiladze.
Replacements: 16 Vladislav Korshunov, 17 Alexey Volkov, 18 Innokentiy Zykov, 19 Andrey Garbuzov, 20 Ramil Gaysin, 21 Gleb Babkin, 22 Yuri Vengerov, 23 Sergey Trishin.
Date: Saturday, November 17
Venue: Parc Eirias, Colwyn Bay, Wales
Referee: Lourens van der Merwe (South Africa)
Assistant referees: Tim Hayes (Wales), Wayne Davies (Wales)
Comments
Cdn_content says...
Glad to see Wilson at 9, thought he plays well. I guess Jebb is in the engine room bcuase ardron lacks weight cuz jebb played backrow in the currie cup. Evans must have had that injury during the game becuz he looked bad during the game. Though I'd like to see moonlight, dala and mack get some time.
Posted 12:31 17th November 2012
excitationz says...
Russia are an improving squad, I predict a slow start from Canada as for whatever reason when playing against a lower ranked teams they seem to lack any sort of drive or interest, they'll do 'just enough' to keep the lead and hopefully win'.
Canada by 20. Should be a more then usual physical test, as when these two countries meet in any sport, the dislike is always there.
Posted 21:49 16th November 2012