The Canadian mentor was confident his side will perform well against the Zimbabweans as well as Russia and Japan, the other teams they will come up against at the tournament. Our ultimate goal is to win the tournament. In this tournament, if we play very well we can win any game on the day, Murdy said in a statement made available to The Zimbabwean on Sunday.
Murdy added: There is no question that the Junior World Championship is a higher [level of] competition, but even the Junior World Rugby Trophy has a fine line between success and failure.
Now in his third year in charge of the Canadian Under 20 side, Murdy selected 27 players following the completion of a final weekend camp on Vancouver Island, which saw players put through intense workouts and fitness testing. ??The squad includes six players – Andrew Crow, Ryan Fried, Jeff McKinnon, Kyle Armstrong, Conor Braid and Pat Fraser – who played in last year’s IRB Junior World Championship in Japan where Canada finished 14th out of the 16 teams that too part in the competition.
In Group A, the North Americans are likely to face stiff resistance from the Zimbabweans, who are one of the in-form teams in world junior rugby. The junior Sables have been impressive lately and were last November rewarded for their efforts as they clinched the continental Rugby Sevens Series. Meanwhile, the other pool brings together Italy, Oceania representatives Papua New Guinea, 2008 champions Uruguay and defending champions Romania, who beat USA 25-13 in a thrilling final last year in Kenya.
Canada Under 20 squad
Forwards: Tyler Ardon, Brett Beukeboom, Admir Cejanovic, Andrew Crow (Captain), Casey Cavers, Ryan Fried, Alex Kam, Matt Kelly, Scott MacDonald, Jeff McKinnon, Scott McLeod, Liam Murray, Dakota Poole, Adam Zaruba. ??Backs: Kurtis Appledorn, Kyle Armstrong, Conor Braid, Josh Dufresne, Sean Ferguson, Pat Fraser, Tye Hamblin, Jeff Hassler, Patrick Parfrey, Beau Parker, Keaton Styles, Liam Underwood.
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