The road to the 2019 Rugby World Cup resumes this Saturday as Canada hosts Uruguay at BC Place in Vancouver in the first of two games between the countries.
This is a crucial moment for both countries. Canada has never faced this round of qualification before, having secured a World Cup spot ahead of USA and Uruguay in every previous tournament that required qualification.
This two-game series, which ends in Montevideo, Uruguay, on Feb. 3, will decide which team gets into Pool D with Australia, Wales, Georgia, and Fiji. The prospect of losing, and then having to spend the time and money to play in the final repechage event, is not one the Maple Leafs want to consider.
This weekend's match doubles as the first encounter of the 2018 Americas Rugby Championship. Uruguay warmed up by playing the Houston Sabercats in Sugar Land, Texas, this past Saturday. The final score, 32-24, was indicative of a difficult game for Los Teors. The Uruguayans didn't trail, but they had trouble shaking the Sabercats and even struggled to control the scrum.
Uruguay didn't really select down for the game. Its lineup was hardly any different from the country's list of most-capped players in the last three years:
Nine of the all most-capped Uruguayans of recent years started. Some who don't make that list, such as flyhalf Germin Albanell, were regular starters in last year's ARC.
Counting the game against Houston, Uruguay has won 12 games in a row, including test matches against Namibia (twice), Spain, Russia, and Canada a year ago in Punta Del Este.
“We had a warmup game in Houston en route to Vancouver, which was very helpful for the team and management as we’ve been training very hard but needed match action," Uruguay coach Esteban Meneses said.
“Our discipline was very good and that will be crucial when we play Canada. This is a game of 160 minutes that starts in Vancouver and finishes in Montevideo so we are very focused. We have our best players available, including Rodrigo Capó Ortega, whose experience will be crucial for the forwards.”
Meanwhile, Canada has seen a string of shaky performances since early 2017. Last year started with a loss to Argentina XV and then a victory over Chile and ended with a victory over Spain and a loss to Fiji. In between were eight losses and a tie. And twice the Canadians gave up over 50 points to the USA, something they had never done before.
However, Canada coach Kingsley Jones has been optimistic.
"We just wrapped up a successful training camp in London, which included training sessions with Harlequins and Oxford University with our top domestic-based players, along with our professional players," he said. "The entire team and staff are incredibly excited to kick off the Americas Rugby Championship series on Saturday at BC Place in front of our home fans in Vancouver."
A huge crowd of rugby-mad British Columbia fans is expected at BC Place, the site of the Canada Sevens and where the Women's FIFA World Cup Final was held in 2015.
Últimos aprontes de Los Teros en Vancouver de cara al duelo de ida de la Eliminatoria de las Américas ante Canadá #VamosTeros #RumboAJapón2019
— U.R.U. (@RugbyUruguay) January 25, 2018
▶️ https://t.co/6trGbDZTo3 pic.twitter.com/FId36JgoWO
"Uruguay is a strong team and well-drilled unit; they play as one unified team," Jones said. "They have won a lot of games recently and we know they’re going to be ready for the challenge of this two-game series. We know we have to match them physically and, more importantly, play as a team."