Canada are sending out almost an entirely new line-up for Friday’s World Cup match against tournament co-favourite New Zealand.
”We obviously know we’re not going to beat the All Blacks,” Canadian coach David Clark said after practice on Tuesday. ”We obviously think we can beat Italy and Tonga. And in managing our playing staff, we’ve got to do that in a responsible manner.”
Citing the likes of 37-year-old captain Al Charron, veteran prop Rod Snow and others who played in Sunday’s 41-10 disappointing loss to Wales, Clark said: ”We’re certainly not going to debilitate them and put them out against the All Blacks, a bruising encounter, and then expect them to recover in three days to play a very important match against Italy. That’s just not responsible management.”
Losing to the All Blacks was a ”stark reality”, he said.
”We know we’re behind the eight-ball. But stark reality tells you that it’s going to be an extremely difficult task for this team. We’re one of the minnows of the game.
”We’ve got to be playing well above ourselves and overachieve to beat teams like Scotland and Ireland as we did. And to beat Wales back in 1993, that was an overachievement of special order.
”So they’d all have to fall over, like the guy who won the ice-skating gold medal. The Australian you might remember at the Olympic Games. They all fell over and he got the gold medal. Well, if the All Blacks all fall over we might get a few points on the board.”
Canada’s record against New Zealand is 0-3, with the last encounter a 73-7 loss in Auckland in 1995.
Stade Francais lock forward Mike James, nursing a hip flexor, did not train on Tuesday. Flyhalf Jared Barker also sat out the session because of a gastrointestinal bug that has affected several of the Canadians.
While Canada won’t announce their starting line-up until Wednesday, Charron, Snow, James, Winston Stanley and other key veterans are not even expected to play against the All Blacks.
The Canadian backline practising together on Tuesday was Ed Fairhurst, Ryan Smith, Marco Di Girolamo, John Cannon, Quentin Fyffe, Sean Fauth and Matt King.
Of those, only Di Girolamo started against Wales while Smith came in off the bench.
Asked about the loss of New Zealand vice-captain Tana Umaga, who damaged a knee against Italy, Clark said: ”The other guy [Ma’a Nonu] looks even bigger. That’s a frightening thought for me, even sitting on the sidelines.
”I think they’ll miss him quite a bit. I think he’s a very fine rugby player and he’s certainly extremely forceful and athletic and he’s got great skills. So that might hurt a bit because but they’ve probably got another seven lined up somewhere they can put out against us.”
Clark said the current All Blacks team were ”marvelous”.
”Their counterattacking and finishing is probably the best in the world. So they’ve got a very good mix out there. They’ve got ruthlessness and force up front and then they’ve got this flair and adventure in the back. That’s not a bad mix.”
While conceding Canada were sputtering, Clark said his squad will be looking to get back to delivering its ”playing a simple, bruising, forceful game of rugby”.
Clark, an Australian native, has picked New Zealand to win the World Cup. And he says Canada may end up helping them along the way.
”If we can give them a service [Friday] that will help them do that, that’s great,” he said. ”If we were playing Australia, we’d do the same thing. But I think our work out there on Friday night, we hope it’s good enough that it will assist them in preparing themselves to play the World Cup. That’s what I think sports is all about.” — Sapa-AP