Williams Lake’s Jake Ilnicki has been named to Rugby Canada’s Men’s 15s roster and will face the New Zealand Maori All Blacks Nov. 3 at BMO Field in downtown Toronto.
Ilnicki was named as one of 26 Canadian men to make the team.
The announcement comes amidst an incredibly busy fall schedule for Canada’s men’s rugby program, following the IRB Americas Rugby Championship in Langford, B.C. and the Gold Coast Sevens in Australia.
Next Sunday’s match against the Maori All Blacks also kicks off a busy November for Canada, which sees head coach Kieran Crowley’s side play four games in four different countries in 21 days.
Immediately following the game in Toronto the team will depart for Europe to face Georgia in Tbilisi on Nov. 9, Romania in Bucharest on Nov. 16 and, finally, Portugal in Lisbon on Nov. 23.
The New Zealand Maori All Blacks — comprised of players born with Maori genealogy — announced their roster earlier this week. The side will be captained by Wellington and Hurricanes back, Tim Bateman and features six former All Blacks and 11 players who featured for the Maori All Blacks lastyear.
So far more than 16,000 tickets have been sold for the highly-anticipated match, said Rugby Canada.
Canada versus the New Zealand Maori All Blacks will be aired live on TSN and RDS starting at 10 a.m.