TEST RUGBY: Churchill Cup, Finals Day

The preliminary rounds were held in Glendale, Colorado. The finals day is being held in Harrison, New Jersey.

19.06.2010
England Saxons v Canada (Final)

Preview
Canada has reached the final for the first time since the Cup was launched in 2003. Canada has not fared well when playing England 'A' or the Saxons as they are now known.
2006-England A won 41-11 2005 England A won 29-5 2004 England A won 48-23 and in 2003 England A won 47-3.

Canada has emerged as the most improved team in this tournament. This could well be the year that belongs to Canada.

Prediction-Canada A by 7 points

Teams

Canada
M Evans (Newport Gwent Dragons, Wales); C Hearn (The Rock), DTH van der Merwe (Glasgow Warriors, Scotland), P Mackenzie (Esher, England), J Mensah-Coker (un-attached); A Monro (Ontario Blues), S White (BC Bears), D Wooldridge (Ontario Blues), P Riordan (BC Bears, capt), A Tiedemann (Prairie Wolf Pack), L Tait (Un-attached), B Erichsen (BC Bears), C O'Toole (The Rock), A Kleeberger (Rotherham, England), A Carpenter (Un-attached)
Replacements: R Hamilton (BC Bears), J Marshall (BC Bears), T Hotson (Plymouth Albion, England), N Dala (Prairie Wolf Pack), E Wilson (BC Bears), R Smith (Praire Wolf Pack), J Pritchard (Bedford RFC, England) .
Head Coach: Luke Lancaster

England Saxons:
A Goode (Saracens); J Simpson-Daniel (Gloucester), J Clarke (Northampton Saints), A Allen (Leicester Tigers) , N Abendanon (Bath); S Myler (Northampton Saints), L Dickson (Northampton Saints); N Wood (Gloucester), A Titterrell (Leeds Carnegie) , A Corbiserio (London Irish), J Hudson (Newcastle Falcons), G Skivington (London Wasps, capt), T Wood (Worcester Warriors), A Saull (Saracens), L Narraway (Gloucester Rugby)
Replacements: R Vickers (Newcastle Falcons), D Bell (Bath), G Kitchener (Worcester Warriors), K Myall (Leeds Carnegie), M Young (Newcastle Falcons), O Smith (Harlequins), T Varndell (London Wasps)
Head Coach:Kieran Crowley

United States v France A( Playoff 3rd-4th)

Prediction: France A by 15 points

Teams

U.S. Lineup:
15. Chris Wyles (Saracens, England)
14. Takudzwa Ngwenya (Biarritz Olympique, France)
13. Alipate Tuilevuka (Provo Steelers)
12. Junior Sifa (Middleton RFC)
11. Paul Emerick (Parma RFC, Italy)
10. Nese Malifa (Belmont Shore)
9. Mike Petri (New York Athletic Club)
1. Mate Moeakiola (Sporting Club Albi, France)
2. Phil Thiel (Life University)
3. Shawn Pittman (Bayside RFC)
4. John Van Der Giessen, Capt. (Sporting Club Albi, France)
5. Scott Lavalla (Dublin University, Ireland)
6. Louis Stanfill (Canberra Royals, Australia)
7. J.J. Gagiano (University of Cape Town, South Africa)
8. Nic Johnson (Denver Barbarians)
Reserves
16. Chris Biller (San Francisco Golden Gate)
17. Tony Purpura (Boston Rugby Club)
18. Patrick Danahy (Life University)
19. Dan LaPrevotte (San Francisco Golden Gate)
20. Tim Usasz (Nottingham RFC, England)
21. Volney Rouse (Te Kawau, New Zealand)
22. Andrew Suniula (Chicago Griffins)
Head Coach: Eddie O'Sullivan

France A

Russia v Uruguay (Playoff 5th-6th)

This will be an interesting rugby test. Previous encounters have been close and there is not much between them on the rankings.

Previous Encounters
21.06.2009 Russia 29-26 in Bucharest (IRB Nations Cup)
20.06.2008 Uruguay 23-19 in Bucharest (IRB Nations Cup)

GWC Rugby Rankings
World Table-Russia 20th, Uruguay 22nd
IRB Rankings-Russia 19th (64.64), Uruguay 20th (62.37)

Prediction: Russia by 6 points

Teams

Russia
1. Sergey Popov 2. Vladislav Korshunov (c) 3. Alexey Travkin 4. Alexander Voytov 5. Artem Fatakhov 6. Victor Gresev 7. Kirill Kushnarev 8. Nikita Medkov 9. Alexander Yanyushkin 10. Yury Kushnarev 11. Vasily Artemyev 12. Alexey Makovetskiy 13. Mikhail Babaev 14. Andrey Kuzin 15 Igor Klyuchnikov
Replacements 16. Evgeny Mateev 17. Vladimir Botvinnikov 18. Alexander Khrokin 19. Sergey Sergeev 20. Alexander Shakirov 21. Alexey Korobeynikov 22. Sergey Trishin
Head Coach:

Uruguay
1. Alejo Corral 2. Carlos Arboleya (c) 3. Pablo Lemoine 4. Juan Pablo Horta 5. Diego Magno 6 Santiago Deicas 7. Ignacio Grignola 8. Matias Fonseca 9. Manuel Martinez 10. Emiliano Caffera 11. Gaston Mieres 12. Juan DeFreitas 13. Juan Martin Llovet 14. Leandro Leivas 15. Ivo Dugonjc
Replacements 16. Juan Pablo Ruffalini 17. Juan Pedro Rombys 18. Edgardo Benitez 19. Nicolas Badano 20. Matias Braun 21. Nicolas Morales
Head Coach: