Canada face stern All Blacks test as US bank on captain for France clash

Canada may be facing a hiding of historic proportions when they face the All Blacks on Wednesday, but the amateur outfit are far from fazed by the prospect after taking time off work just to play in the Rugby World Cup.

According to coach Kingsley Jones, his amateurs in a professional world have “everything to gain and nothing to lose” against the three-times world champions.

“It’s a huge achievement to be here for the team and now we’re here we’ve got to be as competitive as we can,” he said.

At the top end of the World Cup scale are the Six Nations and Rugby Championship nations, with fully employed rugby professionals earning top dollar and playing year-round.

At the other end is former Wales international Jones, scrambling to get his Canadian side together for a brief period at rugby’s showcase event.

“Some of them had to compromise their jobs,” he said on the eve of Wednesday’s game against the All Blacks match in Oita, southern Japan.

“Nick Blevins, who played 12 the other night, he runs a business, a vegan food chain, and he’s had to take three months out and pay people to replace him.

“There’s also Gordon McRorie, the nine, he works in HR. His employers have been good but they can’t give people three, four months off, so there are players who (have) the extra strain of leaving the job.”

For Jones, who has made a career out of rugby as a professional player and now as coach, he was stunned by what confronted him when he took left the Pro 14 Dragons in 2017 to coach Canada.

“It was a real eye-opener to see some of the challenges around getting players released” from their day jobs, he said, adding it compounded the difficulty of competing in the regional Americas Rugby Championship which runs over three months.

“Players simply can’t do it. They’ve got families, they’ve got jobs.” The Canadians, who were whipped 79-15 the last time they faced the All Blacks at the 2011 World Cup, are undaunted at the prospect of an even bigger scoreline in Oita.

Meanwhile, France will look to long-serving number eight Louis Picamoles for inspiration as he captains his country for the first time against the United States in the World Cup’s ‘group of death’.

Les Bleus squeaked home 23-21 against Argentina in their first match and are hoping to press their advantage in the ultra-competitive Pool C, which also includes England, who beat the United States 45-7.

Coach Jacques Brunel has rung the chances for the clash in Fukuoka, on the southwestern tip of Japan, with only three players surviving from the nail-biting win over the Pumas.

Fly-half Camille Lopez, whose drop goal broke Pumas hearts, starts at 10, preferred this time to young gun Romain Ntamack.

“We tried to balance things over the two games, to play everyone. Some people will play twice. We also tried to take into account everyone’s form and fitness. We had to select two teams,” Brunel told reporters.

Fresh from a 10-day break after the Argentina game, France have only four days to recover from playing the Eagles before facing a highly physical Tongan XV -- not to mention the potential pool decider against eternal enemy England.

But Brunel said he was not looking ahead to “Le Crunch” in Yokohama on October 12.

“Frankly, we have not thought about our team for England. What is important is to win these two matches. If we do that and Argentina lose to England, we should have qualified” for the quarter-finals, said Brunel.

For the coach, handing Picamoles the captaincy in place of hooker Guilhem Guirado was a logical choice. The rampaging number eight “has the most experience in this reshuffled team. And it’s a position and a role that he knows” from his club side Montpellier.

Agencies