Canada Head Coach Kieran Crowley has released his 23-man roster to face fellow Rugby World Cup 2015 qualifier Namibia on Friday at Parc Eirias in the second game of the year-end tour.

Captaining the side for the second consecutive game will be loose-head prop Hubert Buydens, who will be joined by Ray Barkwill and Jason Marshall in the front row. Marshall, along with winger Sean Duke, returns to the Canadian team having recently defeated Leicester Tigers 59-26 on Tuesday night as part of the historic Barbarians RC team.

London Irish forward Jebb Sinclair makes his return to the second row alongside Tyler Hotson, and the trio of Kyle Gilmour, Nanyak Dala and John Moonlight remain as Canada’s loose forwards.

Scrum half Gord McRorie, who scored two tries in last weekend’s 28-23 loss to Championship XV in Worcester, will provide service to the backs through Connor Braid at flyhalf.

In the centres, Canada Sevens stalwarts Ciaran Hearn and Conor Trainor will inject an exciting level of pace and skill through the midfield. Joining Duke on the wing will be Ospreys’ Jeff Hassler, who has five tries this season for the Ospreys, and DTH van der Merwe of the Glasgow Warriors.

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Forward substitions for Canada will be Doug Wooldridge, Ryan Hamilton, Jake Ilnicki, Brett Buekeboom and Aaron Carpenter, with Sean White, Pat Parfrey and Jordan Wilson-Ross on the bench for the backs.

25-year-old Wilson-Ross, originally from Alliston, Ontario could receive his first cap for Canada’s Men’s Team against Namibia.

“Obviously it’s a huge honour for me to be named to Canada’s Team and I’m looking forward to the opportunity to if I come off the bench to play against Namibia,” said Wilson-Ross from Colwyn Bay.

With less than one year to go until the Men’s World Cup in England and Wales, Canada will see Friday’s game as a must-win and a chance to build momentum.

“If you look at many of our last test matches we’ve been in a position to win them but we haven’t been able to finish them off. We’ve had a few lapses in concentration and had a few systems errors and things and on Friday we need to fix those and hopefully get the win,” said Crowley after training.

Despite a number of injuries throughout the tour long list and select players being unavailable due to club commitments, Friday’s roster is ready to compete.

“We’ve developed a bit of depth in the roster through competition and the team that has been selected I believe is the best we have available. Through this selection we’re also looking at a number of positions and building for down the road,” added Crowley.

Parc Eirias is a familiar ground for the Canadian side, having played test matches against Samoa and Russia two years earlier during their November tour. Also, a number of Canadian players, including Jebb Sinclair, Doug Wooldridge, Hubert Buydens and Sean White to name a few, were involved in the RGC 1404 team to call the North Wales facility home a few seasons ago.

Namibia qualified for next year’s World Cup by winning the Confederation Africaine de Rugby Division 1A title in dramatic fashion earlier this year in Antananarivo, Madagasgar and will face New Zealand, Argentina, Tonga and Georgia next fall.

Canada: 15 DTH van der Merwe (Glasgow Warriors), 14 Jeff Hassler (Ospreys / Prairie Wolf Pack), 13 Conor Trainor (UBCOB Ravens / BC Bears), 12 Ciaran Hearn (Castaway Wanderers / Atlantic Rock), 11 Sean Duke (UVIC Vikes / BC Bears), 10 Connor Braid (Glasgow Warriors / BC Bears), 9 Gordon McRorie (Calgary Hornets / Prairie Wolf Pack), 8 John Moonlight (James Bay AA / Ontario Blues), 7 Nanyak Dala (Castaway Wanderers / Prairie Wolf Pack), 6 Kyle Gilmour (St. Albert RFC / Prairie Wolf Pack), 5 Jebb Sinclair (London Irish / Atlantic Rock), 4 Tyler Hotson (Doncaster Knights), 3 Jason Marshall (Hawkes Bay Magpies / BC Bears), 2 Ray Barkwill (Niagara Wasps RFC / Ontario Blues), 1 Hubert Buydens (Captain – Unattached / Prairie Wolf Pack)
Replacements: 16 Doug Wooldridge (Lindsay RFC / Ontario Blues), 17 Ryan Hamilton (Capilano RFC / BC Bears), 18 Jake Ilnicki (NSW Country Eagles / BC Bears), 19 Brett Buekeboom (Plymouth Albion), 20 Aaron Carpenter (Cornish Pirates RFC), 21 Sean White (James Bay AA / BC Bears), 22 Patrick Parfrey (Swilers RFC / Atlantic Rock), 23 Jordan Wilson-Ross (James Bay AA / Ontario Blues)

Unavailable due to injury: Matt Evans (Cornish Pirates), Harry Jones (Capilano RFC / BC Bears), Phil Mack (James Bay AA / BC Bears), Phil Mackenzie (Sale Sharks), Mike Scholz (Castaway Wanderers / Ontario Blues), Liam Underwood (Ontario Blues)

Management Staff: Kieran Crowley (Head Coach), Gareth Rees (Manager), Neil Barnes (Assistant Coach), Scott Hanson (Attack Coach), Mike Shelley (Scrum Coach), Andy Evans (Strength and Conditioning Coach), Calum Ramsay (Performance Analyst), Alana Gattinger (Team Services), Mike Cook (Therapist), Danielle Mah & Carla Brash (Supporting Therapists)

Canada’s End Of Year Tour Fixtures:

• Canada 23 – 28 Championship XV – 2 November, Sixways Stadium, Worcester, England
• Canada vs Namibia – 7 November, Parc Eirias, Colwyn Bay, Wales, Kick-Off: 19:00 GMT
• Canada vs Samoa – 14 November, Stade de la Rabine, Vannes, France, Kick-Off: 19:00 FRA Time (18:00 GMT) – Watch LIVE on www.irb.com & follow @RugbyCanada on Twitter for updates
• Canada vs Romania – 22 November, Stadionul National Arcul de Triumf, Bucharest, Kick-Off: 18:30 ROM Time – Watch LIVE on http://frr.ro & follow @RugbyCanada on Twitter for updates

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Namibia Team Announcement

A new look Namibian starting line-up will face Canada on Friday evening in Colwyn bay in the opening match of the Windhoek Draught Northern Hemisphere Tour. Welwitchias coach Danie Vermeulen has made no fewer than ten changes to the team that defeated Germany 58-20 in Windhoek last week. Two of the changes are positional switches. Saracens loose-forward Jacques Burger will captain the team in his first appearance for Namibia since the 2011 Rugby World Cup in New Zealand. Burger replaces Thomasua Forbes while Tinus du Plessis moves from eighth-man to the side of the scrum in place of Rohan Kitshoff who will be on the bench. PJ van Lill who joined the team Monday evening in Colwyn Bay from France will start the match in his familiar number 8 jersey.

Vermeulen said the changes to the team and the loose-forward trio and the team had more to do with a rotational policy than form. “ We are delighted to have Jacques back and he has immediately made a major impact on the vibe in the squad. He had 52 minutes for Saracens against Harlequins over the weekend and we would like to give him as much game time as possible against Canada.”

Veteran prop Johnnie Redelinghuys will start at loose-head in the place of Jaco Engels who will join the team later this week while Tjiuee Uanive will make his first start at the expense of Nico Esterhuyse who was injured just before the team’s departure for Wales.

Eneill Buitendag gets a start at half-back where he will pair up with French based Theuns Kotze, both promoted to the starting line-up after coming off the bench against Germany. On the left wing David Philander got the nod ahead of Johan Tromp who is on the bench. In the second positional switch Danie Dames moves from fullback to right wing making way for Executer Chiefs fullback Chrysander Botha.

Windhoek United’s Franklin Bertholini is the only uncapped player in the match 23 and is likely to earn his first cap for Namibia from the bench.

Coach Vermeulen said with three very tough matches ahead it was important to give as many players as possible a run against Canada. “ We expect the Canadians to be extremely physical, we know that we will probably pick up an injury or two so we need to manage the players  to ensure we remain competitive in all our matches.”

Namibia: 15 Chrysander Botha (28 caps), 14 Danie Dames (10 caps), 13 Darryl de la Harpe (22 caps), 12 Johan Deysel (5 caps), 11 David Philander (16 caps), 10 Theuns Kotzé (17 caps), 9 Eneill Buitendag (8 caps), 8 PJ van Lill (31 caps), 7 Jacques Burger (Captain – 29 caps), 6 Tinus du Plessis (39 caps), 5 Tjiuee Uanive (1 cap), 4 Morné Blom (13 caps), 3 André Schlechter (10 caps), 2 Torsten van Jaarsveld (1 cap), 1 Johnnie Redelinghuys (41 caps)
Replacements: 16 Rathony Becker (10 caps), 17 Franklin Bertholini (on debut), 18 Casper Viviers (5 caps), 19 Stefan Neustädt (6 caps), 20 Rohan Kitshoff (17 caps), 21 Ryan de la Harpe (7 caps), 22 Shawn Kaizemi (2 caps), 23 Johann Tromp (9 caps)