England v Canada preview: facts, stats and teams
Ahead of England’s Test match against Canada at Twickenham Stadium this Saturday, here is everything you need to know.
Eddie Jones has handed another four players their first caps with Dan Kelly (inside centre), Adam Radwan (left wing), Harry Wells (lock) and Alex Dombrandt (No. 8) all named in the starting XV.
Gloucester's Lewis Ludlow will again captain the side as England look to end their 2020/21 season with a win at Twickenham Stadium.
Canada, who are led by former Russia and Sale Sharks head coach Kingsley Jones, come into the game off the back of a 68-12 loss against Wales in Cardiff last weekend.
Openside-flanker Lucas Rumball captains the team again which has two changes as Cory Thomas is named at blindside flanker, while Josh Larsen will make his debut at centre.
- When? Saturday, 10 July
- Kick-off? 1500 BST
- Where? Twickenham Stadium
- Coverage? Live on Channel 4
Views from the camp
England head coach Eddie Jones: “We’ve had a really good training week, the team’s prepared well and we’re looking forward to playing against a Canada side which traditionally has been physically tough, so we know the first 20 minutes in particular are going to be difficult.
“You want consistency of effort and execution. We were in a situation at half time where we’d played some really good rugby and then for whatever reason in the second half we lost a bit of focus, and what we’d like to see is that attention to detail."
[On Alex Dombrandt] “His form this season with Harlequins has been a real progression in his game. He’s got unique running skills and he’s improved the defensive part of his game, so he gets a great opportunity on Saturday to display those skills."
[On Freddie Steward] “Freddie is one of a number of players who have talent, but talent’s the easy part. There’s the old saying talent gets you through the door but it depends how hard you work. The test of him now is how he keeps developing."
England scrum half Harry Randall: “I’m delighted to go again with Marcus [Smith] – I thoroughly enjoyed playing with him and the rest of the team last week.
“It was a very surreal day making my debut, it’s something that I’ve dreamt of for a long time. I thoroughly enjoyed taking the field and it was made even more special with so many other new caps as well – it was an awesome occasion.
Previous meetings
2004: England 70-0 Canada - Twickenham Stadium, London (Autumn International)
2001: Canada 20-59 England - Burnaby Lake Sports Complex, Burnaby (Summer tour)
2001: Canada 10-22 England - Burnaby Lake Sports Complex, Burnaby (Summer tour)
1999: England 36-11 Canada - Twickenham Stadium, London (Autumn International)
1994: England 60-19 Canada - Twickenham Stadium, London (Autumn International)
1992: England 26-13 Canada - Wembley Stadium (Autumn International)
Facts
- England have won all six of their previous clashes with Canada, the last of which came in 2004 and saw the then World Champions record their biggest victory over the Canucks (70-0).
- This match will be the fourth meeting between England and Canada at Twickenham, England have won each of the previous three clashes, scoring 166 points and 23 tries in the process.
- Canada’s last match at Twickenham came in 2007 when they beat North American rivals the USA 52-10, with centre James Pritchard converting all seven tries that Canada scored that day and slotting a penalty goal.
- England have alternated between wins and losses in their six Tests in 2021, winning the most recent one (43-29 v USA), this after winning each of their last eight games of 2020.
- England have won each of their 22 Tests at Twickenham against non-Tier One nations, by an average margin of 41 points; they have scored 40+ points in the last four such games.
- Canada have lost their last nine games, their worst run since losing 10 in a row from August 1998 to October 1999 – a run that included a defeat to England; Canada have conceded 60+ points in each of their last three games.
- England scored seven tries last weekend against USA, their best tally in a Test since September 2019, also against the USA (7); the last time they scored 7+ tries in consecutive games was in November 2017-February 2018 (7 v Samoa, 7 v Italy).
- Freddie Steward assisted two tries on his debut against the USA, the first time that a fullback has made multiple assists in a game for England since Mike Brown in June 2017 against Argentina (2).
- Joe Cokanasiga gained 94 metres against the USA last weekend, the most of any England player and the seventh time in his eight Test starts that he’s gained at least 75 metres; the Bath winger has averaged 78 metres per 80 minutes since making his Test debut in November 2018, the most of any England player in that period (min. 200 minutes).
- Kainoa Lloyd was one of the two players to score a try for Canada against Wales last weekend and has now scored a tally of five tries in his last four games with the Canucks.
Teams
England
15. Freddie Steward, 14. Joe Cokanasiga, 13. Henry Slade, 12. Dan Kelly, 11. Adam Radwan, 10. Marcus Smith, 9. Harry Randall; 1. Ellis Genge, 2. Jamie Blamire, 3. Joe Heyes, 4. Harry Wells, 5. Charlie Ewels, 6. Lewis Ludlow (C), 7. Sam Underhill, 8. Alex Dombrandt.
Finishers
16. Curtis Langdon, 17. Beno Obano, 18. Paul Hill, 19. Callum Chick, 20. Lewis Ludlam, 21. Dan Robson, 22. George Furbank, 23. Joe Marchant.
Canada
15. Cooper Coats, 14. Cole Davis, 13. Ben Lesage, 12. Lachlan Kratz, 11. Kainoa Lloyd, 10. Peter Nelson, 9. Ross Braude; 1. Djustice Sears-Duru, 2. Andrew Quattrin, 3. Jake Ilnicki, 4. Reegan O’Gorman, 5. Conor Keys, 6. Corey Thomas, 7. Lucas Rumball, 8. Siaki Vikilani.
Replacements
16. Eric Howard, 17. Cole Keith, 18. Liam Murray, 19. Donald Carson, 20. Michael Smith, 21. Quinn Ngawati, 22. William Percillier, 23. Robbie Povey.
