The 21st-ranked Canada men’s rugby team will kick off their 2024 season with an international Test against world number six Scotland at the TD Place Stadium in Ottawa on Saturday.
This match will be the first that Canada have played on home soil since securing an impressive 57-34 victory over 19th-ranked Spain at this venue in July 2022.
Match preview
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Canada and Scotland are vying for the Douglas JL Horn Memorial Cup, which was first contested in 2008. The cup was sponsored by the late Alan Horn, who named it after his father and former Scottish rugby player, Douglas Horn.
These two sides last faced each other in Edmonton in June 2018, which Canada lost 48-10, though they will likely look to use this matchup as preparation before travelling to the United States and Japan as part of the Pacific Nations Cup.
The Canadian men have gone 2-3-0 since then with wins over 27th-ranked Netherlands and No. 29 Brazil. Their team features mostly players from Major League Rugby, all of whom are working towards Australia 2027 after elimination at the hands of Chile during the 2023 World Cup qualifiers.
Kingsley Jones‘s side missed their first-ever World Cup last time out after featuring in every edition since the inaugural year of the competition in 1991. Their only victory over Scotland was way back in 2002 and stands as the team’s most recent win over a Tier 1 opponent.
Jones has placed his on-field leadership faith in flanker Lucas Rumball, who will captain the side this weekend and was also part of the team that faced Scotland in the last encounter in 2022.
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Meanwhile, as part of the summer Test series Scotland will also take on the United States, Chile and Uruguay. They have left out the bulk of their regular starters as they look to expand their pool of players in the build-up to the 2027 World Cup qualification.
Gregor Townsend‘s side, despite locking down sixth place in the world rankings, have lacked consistency over the 12 months, failing to qualify for the knockout stages of the World Cup, albeit that they were up against Ireland and South Africa in the group of death.
Since then, they beat England 30-21 at Murrayfield to retain the Calcutta Cup for a fourth consecutive year during this year’s Six Nation, but their only other victory in the competition was a 27-26 win against Wales, which was only good enough to secure fourth place.
However, the one major positive for Scottish rugby in more recent times came by way of the Glasgow Warriors’ 16-13 victory over South Africa’s Bulls in last month’s United Rugby Championship final.
Still, despite featuring a relatively inexperienced squad, Scotland are massive favourites, having won each of the last four encounters between the sides, including a Commonwealth Games victory back in 2014.
Canada form (all competitions):
Scotland form (all competitions):
Team News
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Jones announced his roster on Wednesday, and along with Rumball, Ben LeSage, Djustice Sears-Duru, Cole Keith, and Conor Keys are included, making up the remaining contingent that featured when these sides met in 2022.
Vancouver Highlander twins Takoda and Talon McMullin, Dallas Jackals scrum-half Brock Gallagher, and Pacific Pride development academy players James Stockwood and Jesse Mackail could all earn their first caps as substitutes.
Australian-born winger Nic Benn, who is a former Toronto Arrow and current Dallas Jackal qualifies to represent Canada through his Canadian-born mother and earns his first cap here.
Townsend has selected 10 uncapped players in his matchday 23. Among them are Northampton hooker Robbie Smith, Glasgow Warriors prop Nathan McBeth, Leicester Tigers prop Will Hurd, Oyonnax lock Ewan Johnson, and Edinburgh winger Ross McCann.
The Scotland tour roster also includes British and Irish Lions winger Duhan van der Merwe, along with six bench players who featured in Scotland’s Six Nations finale against Ireland in March.
Canada starting lineup: 15 Cooper Coats, 14 Andrew Coe, 13 Mitch Richardson, 12 Ben LeSage, 11 Nic Benn, 10 Peter Nelson, 9 Jason Higgins, 8 Siaki Vikilani, 7 Lucas Rumball, 6 Mason Flesch, 5 Kyle Baillie, 4 Conor Keys, 3 Conor Young, 2 Andrew Quattrin, 1 Liam Murray
Replacements: 16 Jesse Mackail, 17 Djustice Sears-Duru, 18 Cole Keith, 19 James Stockwood, 20 Siôn Parry, 21 Brock Gallagher, 22 Talon McMullin, 23 Takoda McMullin
Scotland starting lineup: 15 Harry Paterson, 14 Jamie Dobie, 13 Matt Currie, 12 Stafford McDowall, 11 Arron Reed, 10 Ross Thompson, 9 Gus Warr, 8 Josh Bayliss, 7 Luke Crosbie, 6 Gregor Brown, 5 Glen Young, 4 Max Williamson, 3 Elliot Millar Mills, 2 Dylan Richardson, 1 Rory Sutherland
Replacements: 16 Robbie Smith, 17 Nathan McBeth, 18 Will Hurd, 19 Ewan Johnson, 20 Matt Fagerson, 21 Ben Healy, 22 Kyle Steyn, 23 Ross McCann
We say: Canada 15-38 Scotland
While Scotland have not been at their best in the last 12 months and have called upon several new faces for this tour, they should still have way too much firepower for Canada here and we feel they will run out as comfortable winners in this one.
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