Canada's new professional coach, Australian David Clark begins his attempt to restore credibility to Canadian rugby by introducing a team full of uncapped players for the first game of the Epson Cup against Tonga in Vancouver on May 20.

Five new caps as well as two players each with only one cap, as substitutes, fill a roster that sees only seven of the team that hammered Namibia 72-11 in Canada's last international at World Cup 1999. Clark knows eleven of the team well having coached them at his highly successful Pacificsport Under-23 development program, and six of the squad plays for Canada's highly successful Sevens team.
With veterans World Cup captain Gareth Rees (Harlequins), wing David Lougheed( Leicester), prop Rod Snow ( Newport), fullback Scott Stewart (Bedford), lock Mike James (Perpignan) and back-rower Mike Schmid ( Rotherham) unavailable because of professional duty in Europe, Clark has managed to secure fifty-four capper, Al Charron ( 33), and the only player over 30, as captain. Charron last captained Canada in the three-game PARA Tournament in 1996 and makes no bones about the fact he would rather leave the job to someone else. "I've been very reluctant to be captain," says the recent Barbarian try-scorer. " It's not something I go looking for; it's not something I need to do. I like to do my leading on the field. Hopefully I can continue to do that."
Helping him lead the untested and untried youngsters will be Cardiff veterans Dan Baugh and John Tait, Canada's sensational two try-scorer over France in World Cup, Begles-Bordeaux's Morgan Williams, and Canada's top-try scoring winger (22), Winston Stanley, who moves from wing to fullback.
New cap Jared Barker will fill the outside-half role made vacant by the retirement of Bob Ross and the unavailability of Gareth Rees. Barker plays for the Victoria based James Bay club and led the Crimson Tide Super League team to the 1999 Championship. He is a fine goal-kicker who toured Fiji, last October with the Super League All-Stars.
" Jared doesn't yet have the experience to be able to control and change the shape of a game, but if he demonstrates well in the game against Tonga, then there will be further things for him down the track," says Clark.
In choosing Kevin Tkachuk at loose-head prop, and in consigning forty-six cap veteran John Hutchinson to the bench, in preference to Canada's Sevens captain Gregor Dixon in the back-row, with Phil Murphy at #8 and Dan Baugh at open-side, Clark is looking for more constructive and pace-filled pack.
Speed too is of the essence in the backs with five of the seven having played for Canada's Sevens side: Morgan Williams, Kyle Nichols, Nik Witkowski, Winston Stanley and Fred Asselin - the fastest man in Canadian rugby. Sean Fauth the right-wing is no slouch either but is notable as probably the best defensive winger in the Big Wheat Country.
"The team is designed to make good some of the areas of the game that haven't been there in the past," says Clark as he promises a more open style of rugby akin to the type played by his successful Under-23 side.
Though the team comprised players from all across Canada, Clark enjoys a luxury not always available to Canada's coach. Most of the team is currently playing its club rugby in Victoria on Canada's west-coast which will allow Clark to assemble and to train most of the team on a twice-weekly basis in the seven weeks leading to the test.
Canadian rugby fans are ready for change and are looking for a contender. A disastrous 1999 Epson Cup campaign that saw Canada lose all five games, two losses to Wales and England on a pre-World Cup tour, added to losses to France and Fiji in World Cup have left Canadian fans shell-shocked. They are more than ready to accept a building program that will hopefully see the right results further down the road. Clark and his young team take the first tentative step of that journey in mid-May.