Canada's Ander Monro. (AP Photo/Jack Dempsey)JACK DEMPSEY/The Associated Press
Canadian coach Kieran Crowley has made six changes from the team that lost to Georgia ahead of Saturday's rugby Test with Portugal in Lisbon.
Centre-winger DTH van der Merwe and veteran prop Kevin Tkachuk are out of the picture because they are required by their Glasgow Warriors club team. They are replaced by Nick Blevins and Tom Dolezel.
Ander Monro (side muscle injury) is healthy again and resumes at fly half.
"He came through training well today and hopefully, fingers crossed, he'll stay that way until Saturday," Crowley said Thursday. "Because we've had four different (No.) 10s on tour now."
Crowley has employed Monro, Nathan Hirayama (collarbone), Ciaran Hearn and Connor Braid at fly half.
Andrew Tiedemann, recovered from a muscle injury, comes in at prop. Tyler Hotson, rewarded for a good showing off the bench last week, starts at lock and Sean-Michael Stephen gets a chance to show off his skills at blindside flanker.
After defeating 25th-ranked Belgium 43-12 and No. 23 Spain 63-22, the 14th-ranked Canadians stumbled last weekend and lost 22-15 to No. 16 Georgia.
"They were very good," Crowley said of Georgia, who like Canada are World Cup-bound.
"The infrastructure is amazing for rugby. It really amazed me," he added. "They just got 36 million euros (C$48.5 million) for their program - six million from the government and 30 million from a private billionaire."
Able to field their top pros from the French league, the Georgians pressured Canada.
"And we didn't execute as well as needed to or as well as we should have," said Crowley, a former All Black. "We were pretty disappointed in the end in what we brought to the table.
"It was in some ways credit to Georgia but in other ways . . . we didn't quite play the way we planned to."
Portugal, ranked 21st in the world, went to the last World Cup but missed out this time. Still the Portuguese are coming off a 24-12 win over Namibia and a close 22-17 loss to the U.S., both teams that have qualified for the 2011 World Cup.
"They have a very good forward pack . . . they do also float the ball around a little bit (in the backs)," said Crowley.
The Portuguese backline includes Australian fly half Adrian Gardner, who plays professionally in France and has been deemed eligible to play for Portugal.
"He's a big player for them, he controls play pretty well so we see him as a real danger."
Crowley has been denied seeing all the talent at his disposal. Hard-nosed forward Jamie Cudmore was suspended in France prior to the tour and rising star back Matt Evans was injured.
The injuries at fly half forced Crowley to recall the 20-year-old Braid from Canada for his first Test start against Georgia. Braid won his first cap coming off the bench for eight minutes of action against Belgium.
Still Crowley says the time on tour has allowed him to see his players under duress.
"Touring like this it's great, because it tells you a lot about the players - their resilience, that sort of thing. . . . It also gives you the opportunity to see players in Test match environments and it's answered a few questions on how players have performed."
But there is still plenty to do. Crowley and his team are planning a front row clinic in April, ahead of the summer Churchill Cup.
The World Cup starts Sept. 9 with Canada grouped with host New Zealand, the world's top-ranked team, as well as No. 5 France, No. 13 Japan and No. 17 Tonga.