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Current World Ranking: 23<\/a> (59.63 points)2026-07-04 \u2013 Canada 42, Spain 42 (Edmonton)
2025-11-22 \u2013 Portugal 33, Canada 27 (Coimbra)
2025-11-15 \u2013 Georgia 38, Canada 17 (Batumi)
2025-11-08 \u2013 Romania 31, Canada 21 (Bucharest)
2025-09-20 \u2013 Canada 24, Tonga 35 (Salt Lake City)
2025-09-14 \u2013 Canada 10, Fiji 63 (Denver)<\/p>\n
7 8 15 3 10 Steve Meehan will be without two of his best players as both Tyler Ardron and Lucas Rumball are unavailable with personal commitments\u2026 he is boosted by the arrival of Evan Olmstead, who lines up on the flank, with Sion Parry taking up the No8 position \u201cThere were plenty of positives to take from the performance against Spain. Our set piece was strong, and the patience and composure we showed to score after long attacking phases reflected the progress this group is making. To come back and earn a draw in the final minutes showed real resilience and belief, but we\u2019re not satisfied with a draw, we want to be winning those games. With a number of players stepping into bigger roles, every match is helping build the experience and confidence we\u2019ll need moving forward.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cPortugal are a well-organised side with a clear identity. They\u2019re strong in the kick chase, work hard to control field position, and are very effective through the middle of the field. We have a good understanding of how they want to play, so the challenge for us is to disrupt their game while continuing to execute ours. It\u2019s a different test to Spain and another chance for this squad to show how quickly it can adapt to a new style of opposition.\u201d<\/p>\n Warm and sunny conditions are on the forecast for kickoff. Despite the poor showing in Denver, Os Lobos are a step above Spain. Their backline will again hold a speed advantage over the Canadians, but their forward pack are smaller and less physically imposing. The edge in kicking goes to the visitors, with veteran scrumhalf Samuel Marques a key decision-maker. Expect another entertaining match but the loss of Rumball, Ardron, and Coats might be too much for Canada to overcome this week. Portugal are favorites on the road in Edmonton.<\/p>\n Replacements: 16 Dewald Kotze, 17 Sam Miller, 18 Kyle Steeves, 19 Daragh Doyle, 20 Cody Nhanala, 21 Brock Gallagher, 22 Liam James, 23 Jacob Ince<\/p>\n Replacements: 16 Abel Da Cunha, 17 Nuno Mascarenhas, 18 Ant\u00f3nio Prim, 19 Guilherme Costa, 20 Andr\u00e9 Cunha, 21 Hugo Camacho, 22 Martim Faro, 23 Alfredo Almeida<\/p>\n Date: Saturday, July 11 Referee: J\u00e9r\u00e9my Rozier (France) HEAD-TO-HEAD (6):\u00a0![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/logo-portugal-thumbnail.png\"){kind=logo}
\u00a0Current World Ranking:\u00a015<\/a> (68.51 points)
2026-07-04 \u2013 USA 30, Portugal 29 (Denver)
2026-03-15 \u2013 Georgia 17, Portugal 19\u00a0(Madrid)
2026-03-08 \u2013 Portugal 26, Spain 7 (Lisbon)
2026-02-22 \u2013 Portugal 44, Romania 7 (Lisbon)
2026-02-14 \u2013 Germany 12, Portugal 68 (Dessau)<\/p>\n
\nIN
\nOUT<\/p>\n
\nEvan Olmstead
\nLucas Rumball<\/p>\n
\nSion Parry
\nTyler Ardron<\/p>\n
\nTakoda McMullin
\nCooper Coats<\/p>\n
\nIN
\nOUT<\/p>\n
\nCody Thomas
\nAnt\u00f3nio Prim<\/p>\n
\nHugo Aubry
\nManuel Vareiro<\/p>\n
\nCooper Coats is ruled out with a lower-leg injury suffered on the final play of the game against Spain\u2026 Peter Nelson, who has shaken off his own knock, switches to flyhalf with Takoda McMullin slotting in at fullback\u2026 the latter kicked the game-tying conversion with time expired against Spain
\nfour players could make their test debuts from the bench for the Canadians\u2026 second row Daragh Doyle and midfielder Jacob Ince were unused replacements last weekend\u2026 back row Cody Nhanala and utility back Liam James join the reserves this week\u2026 James is the son of former Canada lock Mike James, who enjoyed a long pro career in France
\nSimon Mannix will be without starting flyhalf Manuel Vareiro and reserve prop Pedro Vicente this week\u2026 both received suspensions after being sent off for foul play against the Eagles\u2026 Hugo Aubry replaces Vareiro and Abel Da Cunha steps in for Vicente
\nthe only other change to the run-on side is rotation at tighthead prop with Antonio Prim on the bench this week and Cody Thomas handed the start\u2026 versatile back Alfredo Almeida joins the bench<\/p>\n Steve Meehan<\/a>\u00a0(Head Coach)<\/p>\n
CANADA
1 Cali Martinez, 2 Andrew Quattrin (capt.), 3 Cole Keith, 4 Piers von Dadelszen, 5 Izzak Kelly, 6 Mason Flesch, 7 Evan Olmstead, 8 Sion Parry, 9 Jason Higgins, 10 Peter Nelson, 11 Noah Flesch, 12 Josh McIndoe, 13 Spencer Jones, 14 Kyle Tremblay, 15 Takoda McMullin<\/p>\n
PORTUGAL
1 Lu\u00eds Lopes, 2 Luke Begic, 3 Cody Thomas, 4 Martim Bello, 5 Duarte Torgal, 6 Jos\u00e9 Madeira (capt.), 7 Jo\u00e3o Granate, 8 Jos\u00e9 Monteiro, 9 Samuel Marques, 10 Hugo Aubry, 11 Manuel Cardoso Pinto, 12 Tom\u00e1s Appleton, 13 Guilherme Vasconcelos, 14 Raffaele Storti, 15 Vincent Pinto<\/p>\n
Venue: Clarke Stadium, Edmonton
Kickoff: 19:00 local (18:00 Pacific, 21:00 Eastern, Sunday 02:00 Portugal)
Weather Forecast: sunny, 72\u00b0F (22\u00b0C), wind NE 5-9 mph (9-14 km\/h)
Broadcasts: TSN 2<\/a>\u00a0(Canada), RugbyPass TV<\/a><\/p>\n
Assistants: Tom\u00e1s Bertazza (Argentina) & Mike Lawrenson (USA)
TMO: Stefano Penne (Italy)<\/p>\n\u00a0Canada 4,\u00a0 Portugal 2
2025-11-22 \u2013 Portugal 33, Canada 27 (Coimbra)
2021-11-06 \u2013\u00a0Portugal 20, Canada 17 (Lisbon)
2013-11-23 \u2013 Portugal 8,\u00a0Canada 52\u00a0(Lisbon)
2010-11-27 \u2013 Portugal 20,\u00a0Canada 23\u00a0(Lisbon)
2008-11-01 \u2013 Portugal 13,\u00a0Canada 21\u00a0(Lisbon)
2007-08-18 \u2013\u00a0Canada 42, Portugal 12 (Ottawa)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Edmonton rugby fans will get a second look at the new Nations Cup when Canada hosts Portugal at…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":792254,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,224900,760,85,361771],"class_list":["post-792253","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-july-internationals","tag-rugby","tag-sports","tag-world-rugby-nations-cup"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/792253","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=792253"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/792253\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/792254"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=792253"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=792253"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=792253"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}