The Shawnigan Lake camp gave head coach Mark Anscombe the opportunity he needed to whittle the 35 invited players down to the 28 who will face world No. 10 Japan at sa国际传媒 Place on Saturday, No. 19 Russia at Calgary Rugby Park on June 18 and No. 14 Italy at BMO Field in Toronto on June 26 in a Test series.
鈥淭he boys have come together really well,鈥� Anscombe said in a statement.
鈥淲e鈥檝e worked them hard but they鈥檝e put a lot into it and the attitude has been outstanding.鈥�
Three players will earn their first Tests for No. 18 sa国际传媒 鈥� Ben LeSage, Matt Heaton and Matt Tierney. The veteran end of the scale is represented by four-time World Cup player Jamie Cudmore of Squamish. There are 12 players named from the 2015 World Cup squad, including Matt Evans of Duncan and Castaway Wanderers products Ray Barkwill, Hubert Buydens and Jake Ilnicki.
鈥淲e鈥檝e been trying to find out about everyone the last few days and now we know what we鈥檙e faced with,鈥� added Anscombe.
鈥淲e can now start moving forward and developing the group as a unit. We鈥檝e had a few weeks of preparation and have started developing some things. It鈥檚 always exciting to get to the first game.鈥�
