Shane O'Leary and Andrew Coe will make their test debuts Saturday when Canada hosts Georgia in Calgary to kick off its June rugby international series.
Both will start in the backline with O'Leary at fly half and Coe at fullback.
The Irish-born O'Leary, whose mother is from New Brunswick, helped the Canada under-20 side to second place at the 2013 Junior World Trophy. He signed with Connacht Rugby in 2014, joining from France's Grenoble where he worked his way up through the academy. This season was the last for O'Leary at the Guinness Pro 12 club.
"We've been tracking Shane for a while," Canada coach Mark Anscombe told a conference call.
"He's a good-talking, communicating (No.) 10," he added. "He likes bossing the guys around, which is what we want. He's a guy I think can add a lot to our game."
Coe has captained both the Canadian under-18 and under-20 squads.
"We're really excited about Andrew ... He's been earmarked by others before me as a promising player," Anscombe said.
O'Leary and Coe are the only uncapped players in Anscombe's 32-man roster for the June tests. He will trim the squad to 26 for the World Cup qualifying series against the 17th-ranked U.S. Eagles.
Canada, currently ranked 23rd in the world, hosts No. 12 Georgia and No. 16 Romania on June 17 in Edmonton before facing the U.S. in a home-and-away World Cup qualifying series June 24 in Hamilton and July 1 in San Diego.
Expecting physical contests against Georgia and Romania, Anscombe is using his whole roster.
That means Tyler Ardron, Ray Barkwill, Nick Blevins, Connor Braid, Hubert Buydens, Gordon McRorie, Evan Olmstead, Lucas Rumball and co-captain DTH van Der Merwe will sit out the Georgia match.
There are starts Saturday for former sevens stars Phil Mack and Sean Duke.
Duke, Canada's all-time leading try-scorer on the sevens circuit, last played test rugby for Canada in 2014. Mack held Canada's sevens point record at 973 until he was surpassed in April by Nathan Hirayama.
Mack starts at scrum half with Duke on the wing.
Co-captain Brett Beukeboom will lead the Canadians out at Calgary Rugby Park. Former skipper Aaron Carpenter could tie Al Charron's all-time national cap record of 76 coming off the bench.
Anthony Luca could make his test debut as a replaaement.
The Canada-U.S. winner will slot into Pool C at the 2019 World Cup in Japan alongside No. 2 England, No. 6 France, No. 9 Argentina and Oceania 2.
Should Canada lose, it will still have a chance to qualify via a playoff with No. 21 Uruguay to determine who becomes Americas 2 and joins Georgia in Pool D along with No. 3 Australia, No. 8 Wales and Oceania 1.
The Uruguay playoff loser has a final chance to make the World Cup field via a world repechage event.
Canada
Djustice Sears-Duru, Glasgow Warriors (Scotland) Oakville, Ont.; Benoit Piffero, Blagnac Sporting Club (France), Montreal; Jake Ilnicki, Northampton (England), Williams Lake, B.C.; Brett Beukeboom (capt.), Cornish Pirates (England), Lindsay, Ont.; Conor Keys, UVIC Vikes, Stittsville, Ont.; Kyle Baillie, London Scottish (England), Summerside, P.E.I.; Matt Heaton, Darlington Mowden Park (England), Godmanchester, Que.; Admir Cejvanovic, Burnaby Lake RFC, Burnaby, B.C.; Phil Mack, James Bay AA, Victoria; Shane O’Leary, unattached, Cork, Ireland; Sean Duke, UBC Thunderbirds, Vancouver; Guiseppe Du Toit, UVIC Vikes, Maple Ridge, B.C.; Conor Trainor, RC Vannes (France), Vancouver; Dan Moor, Balmy Beach RFC, Toronto; Andrew Coe, UBC Thunderbirds, Toronto.
Replacements
Eric Howard, Brantford Harlequins, Ottawa; Anthony Luca, Burnaby Lake, B.C., Burnaby, B.C.; Matt Tierney, Section Paloise (France), Oakville, Ont.; Aaron Carpenter, Doncaster Knights (England), Brantford, Ont.; Liam Chisholm, UVIC Vikes, Kenora, Ont.; Andrew Ferguson, Oakville Crusaders, Mississauga, Ont.; Gradyn Bowd, UVIC Vikes, Red Deer, Alta.; Ciaran Hearn, London Irish (England), Conception Bay South, N.L.
Follow @NeilMDavidson on Twitter
Neil Davidson, The Canadian Press
