Preview: Portugal vs Canada
Canada kick off their European tour with a match against Portugal in Lisbon on Saturday. It will be only the second time the two teams have met.
In the only other match between the two Canada won 42-12 in Canada on 18 August 2007.
Both teams are sore in need of the match. Portugal go on to play in the European Nations Cup after a poor performance last year when they ended fifth behind Romania, Russia, Georgia and Spain with only the weak Czechs below them, Canada, have hardly played since the World Cup and go on to three tough matches on their tour - against Ireland, Wales and then Scotland.
Both sides are much changed from their World Cup teams. Canada have only nine players from their World Cup side. Jamie Cudmore, Colin Yukes, David Spicer, DTH van der Merwe, Luke Tait, Hubert Buydens, Sam Jenkins, Andrew Tiedemann, Nick Trenkel and Andrew Wilson are not available and then, because the match is outside the IRB's window for November Tests Mike Burak, Ed Fairhurst, Josh Jackson, Justin Mensah-Coker and Sean Michael Stephen will join in only later as will Ander Monro, Nanyak Dala and Stan McKeen.
The Canadian players who were at the World Cup a year ago are: James Pritchard, Ryan Smith (Calgary Irish), Ander Monro, Morgan Williams, Aaron Carpenter, Adam Kleeberger, Mike Pletch, Pat Riordan and Kevin Tkachuk.
There are ten players on the tour without Test experience, seven in the team to play Portugal: Sean Duke, Andrew Fagan, Phil Mackenzie, Travis Robertson, Jebb Sinclair, Nathan Hirayama and Frank Walsh.
Portugal have 13 players who were at the World Cup - João Correia, Vasco Uva, Juan Severino, Duarte Figueiredo, Juan Murré, Tiago Girão, Pedro Leal, Diogo Mateus, David Mateus, Duarte Cardoso Pinto, Gonçalo Foro, Pedro Cabral, Diogo Gama.
Portugal also has uncapped players - João Junior, Julien Bardi, David Dos Reis, Pedro Silva.
The most capped players are Morgan Williams (39), Kevin Tkachuk (39) , Ryan Smith (36) and Ed Fairhurst (37) of Canada and Diogo Mateus (58), Vasco Uva (48), João Correia (38) and Duarte Pinto (34) of Portugal.
Portugal will want to set their fleet-footed backs running while Canada will want to pound wit their bigger forwards.
Teams:
Canada: 15 James Pritchard (Bedford Blues), 14 Phil Mackenzie (University of Victoria Vikes), 13 Bryn Keys (Velox Valhallians), 12 Ryan Smith (Calgary Irish), 11 Dean Van Camp (Velox Valhallians), 10 Ander Monro (Colorno, Italy), 9 Morgan Williams (James Bay Athletic Association), 8 Aaron Carpenter (Brantford Harlequins), 7 Adam Kleeberger (University of Victoria Vikings), 6 Andrew Fagan (Swilers), 5 Stu Ault (Castaway Wanderers), 4 Tyler Hotson (Vancouver), 3 Mike Pletch (Lucan), 2 Pat Riordan (University of Victoria Vikings), 1 Kevin Tkachuk (Glasgow Warriors),
Replacements: 16 Frank Walsh (Vandals), 17 Travis Robertson (Velox Valhallians), 18 Luke Cudmore (Capilano), 19 Jebb Sinclair (Castaway Wanderers), 20 Sean Duke (Vancouver), 21 Sean White (James Bay Athletic Association), 22 Nathan Hirayama (University of Victoria Vikings)
Portugal squad:
Forwards: João Correia (GD Direito), Vasco Uva (GD Direito), Salvador Palha (GD Direito), Valter Jorge (Belenenses), Juan Severino (Agronomia), Diogo Fialho (CDUL), João Junior (CDUL), Duarte Figueiredo (CDUL), Juan Murré (Saint-Nazaire, France), Julien Bardi (Clermont Auvergne, France), David Dos Reis (Nîmes, France), Tiago Girão (CRC Madrid, Spain)
Backs: Aderito Esteves (GD Direito), Pedro Leal (GD Direito), Pedro Silva (Belenenses), Diogo Mateus (Belenenses), David Mateus (Belenenses), Lourenço Kadosh (Agronomia), Duarte Cardoso Pinto (Agronomia), Gonçalo Foro (CDUL), Pedro Cabral (CRC Madrid, Spain), Diogo Gama (CRC Madrid, Spain)
Date: 1 November 2008
Kick-off: 17.00 (local time)
Venue: Estadio Universitário de Lisboa, Campo Vasco Pinto de Magalhães, Lisbon
Expected weather conditions: Scattered clouds with a 30% chance of rain, a high of 16°C, dropping to 10°C and a light northerly wind.
Referee: Peter Allan (Scotland)
Touch judges: Rob Dickson (Scotland), Ronnie Dumma (Scotland)