Canada vs. Ireland Rugby: Live Coverage, Updates and Analysis

Welcome to our live Bleacher Report coverage of summer international rugby. We are live from Toronto’s BMO Field, where Canada will host Ireland on Saturday at 8 p.m. ET.

Canada currently sit 13th in the International Rugby Board’s (IRB) world rankings, while Ireland occupy the eighth position.

Both nations are currently undefeated this summer. Canada have defeated USA, Fiji and Tonga, while Ireland narrowly escaped Texas last week with an uncomfortably close 15-12 victory over the Americans.

Our Bleacher Report preview has called for a narrow Canada win, but the sand continues to shift beneath the feet of everyone on the shores of Lake Ontario.

Of the five Canadian players who emerged from their last match with injury concerns, only London Irish forward Jebb Sinclair has recovered sufficiently to take the field tonight against Ireland. Three Tongan players were suspended in the aftermath of that violent encounter last Saturday.

Meanwhile, Ireland have been dealing with an illness that made its way through their camp this week.  Although no changes have been announced to their lineup, Ireland have been monitoring their players daily—a worrisome necessity with an already severely depleted squad.

Canada

Starting Roster

1. Hubert Buydens, 2. Ray Barkwill, 3. Jason Marshall, 4. Jebb Sinclair, 5. Tyler Hotson, 6. Tyler Ardron, 7. John Moonlight, 8. Aaron Carpenter (captain), 9. Phil Mack, 10. Nathan Hirayama, 11. Taylor Paris, 12. Harry Jones, 13. Ciaran Hearn, 14. James Pritchard, 15. Connor Braid

Bench

16. Ryan Hamilton, 17. Andrew Tiedemann, 18. Doug Wooldridge, 19. John Phelan, 20. Nanyak Dala, 21. Sean White, 22. Liam Underwood, 23. Patrick Parfrey

Ireland:

Starting Roster

1. Tom Court, 2. Richardt Strauss, 3. Mike Ross, 4. Dan Tuohy, 5. Devin Toner, 6. Kevin McLaughlin, 7. Tommy O’Donnell, 8. Peter O’Mahony (captain), 9. Isaac Boss, 10. Ian Madigan, 11. Andrew Trimble, 12. James Downey, 13. Darren Cave, 14. Fergus McFadden, 15. Felix Jones

Bench:

16. Sean Cronin, 17. David Kilcoyne, 18. Declan Fitzpatrick, 19. Mike McCarthy, 20. Chris Henry, 21. Paul Marshall, 22. Paddy Jackson, 23. Robbie Henshaw

Jeff Hull is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report. Unless otherwise stated, all quoted material was obtained firsthand.

Tweet using #CANvIRE

To follow the author on Twitter, click on the link below.

Follow @RugbyScribe