Canada, playing on another short turnaround, will be without injured captain Tyler Ardron when it wraps up Rugby World Cup play Tuesday against Romania in a meeting of winless teams at the tournament.

Veteran lock Jamie Cudmore will serve as skipper at England's Leicester City Stadium, where he will equal former prop Rod Snow's Canadian record of 14 World Cup matches.

Ardron, who was out with a medial collateral ligament sprain for close to two months prior to the World Cup, was forced to leave 19 minutes into the 41-18 loss to France last Thursday. The lanky forward is due to see a specialist Monday to check out another injury to the same knee. Surgery may be needed.

Fullback Matt Evans (knee) is also unavailable through injury, joining Connor Braid (broken jaw, concussion) and Liam Underwood (knee) on the sidelines.

Aaron Carpenter, Ardron's replacement, is also a question mark due to a leg injury.

It's the consequence of four games in just 18 days, with the last three coming in 11 days.

In contrast France, after playing its first two games in five days, got seven days to prepare for Canada and has nine to get ready for Ireland.

"Something needs to be done, in my view," Canadian coach Kieran Crowley said of the schedule.

"It seems strange to me that we'll be playing our fourth game and some teams haven't even played their third," he added. "I would have thought that there could have been a little bit better scheduling around that.

"I mean one day makes a massive difference when you're getting over these test matches .. But it is what it is. We've got to deal with it. They're not going to change it."

Canada, ranked 18th in the world, had hoped to finish third in Pool D. While only the top two advance to the quarter-finals, the third-place team secures automatic qualification to the next World Cup.

With No. 4 Ireland and No. 7 France contesting the top two spots, No. 14 Italy seems destined to finish third with Canada and No. 17 Romania, both Tier 2 teams, looking to avoid the basement.

Canada is 3-2-0 all-time against Romania, although the Oaks have won the last two meetings 18-9 and 21-20.

Canada's record against the other teams in the pool is a combined 3-20-1.

"There are some real challenges there," Crowley said of Romania, which unlike Canada has a domestic pro league.

"We've prepared well. We know what they're going to bring at us," he added. "We're going to have to be on our game and try to take away the strengths of their scrum and their lineout."

Avoiding penalties will also be key.

The Canadians enter the game 0-3-0 in the tournament while Romania is 0-2-0. But Canada has one point to Romania's none courtesy of a bonus point gained in the 23-18 loss to Italy.

Canada, beaten 50-7 by Ireland in its tournament opener, has impressed at times with winger DTH van der Merwe turning heads. But it squandered a chance to upset Italy.

Romania lost 38-11 to France and 44-10 to Ireland. It wraps up pool play Oct. 11 against Italy.

World Cup wins are hard to find for Tier 2 teams. Canada playing in its eighth tournament, has just seven against 19 losses and two ties.

Crowley has made seven changes, one positional, to the team that lost to France.

Ray Barkwill starts at hooker, with Carpenter moving to No. 8 to replace in a new-look back row alongside Jebb Sinclair and sevens captain John Moonlight. If Carpenter can't go, Richard Thorpe will start.

Gord McRorie takes over for Phil Mack at scrum half while Jeff Hassler returns from injury in place of Phil Mackenzie on the wing. Harry Jones steps in for the injured Evans at fullback.

James Pritchard, called into the squad to replace Underwood, starts on the bench and so has a chance to set foot on the field for his fourth World Cup. Prop Jake Ilnicki, who replaced the injured Jason Marshall on the eve of the tournament, is also among the reserves.

Romania's Welsh coach Lynn Howells has made seven changes to his fully professional side for the game.

"We set two goals," Howells told rugbyworldcup.com. "The first one, we've achieved, as we showed that we can play against the Tier 1 nations.

"The second goal is that we would have two wins, and the reason is that we would go straight to Japan 2019. It gives us four years' preparation which would be huge for Romanian rugby. The Canadian game is a semifinal for us. It’s that important. The players have put in a lot of hard work and this is what they deserve."

Prop Mihaita Lazar and lock Valentin Poparlan will be making their 50th test appearances.

Veteran lock Ovidiu Tonita, who has 15 tries in 72 tests, is out with a broken thumb.

Canada

Hubert Buydens, Prairie Wolf Pack, Saskatoon; Ray Barkwill, Ontario Blues, Niagara Falls, Ont.; Doug Wooldridge, Lindsay RFC, Lindsay, Ont.; Brett Beukeboom, Cornish Pirates (England), Lindsay, Ont.; Jamie Cudmore (capt.), Clermont Auvergne (France), Squamish, B.C.; Jebb Sinclair, London Irish, Fredericton; John Moonlight, James Bay AA, Pickering, Ont.; Aaron Carpenter, Cornish Pirates (England), Brantford, Ont.; Gordon McRorie, Calgary Hornets, Calgary; Nathan Hirayama, UVIC Vikes, Vancouver; DTH van der Merwe, Scarlets (Wales), Victoria; Nick Blevins, Calgary Hornets, Calgary,; Ciaran Hearn, Atlantic Rock, Conception Bay South, N.L.; Jeff Hassler, Ospreys (Wales), Okotoks, Alta.; Harry Jones, Capilano RFC, North Vancouver.

Reserves

Benoit Piffero, Atlantic Rock, Montreal; Djustice Sears-Duru, Oakville Crusaders, Oakville, Ont,; Jake Ilnicki, Castaway Wanderers, Williams Lake, B.C.; Kyle Gilmour, Rotherham Titans (England), St. Albert, Alta.; Nanyak Dala, Castaway Wanderers, Saskatoon; Phil Mack, James Bay AA, Victoria; Conor Trainor, UBCOB Ravens, Vancouver; James Pritchard, Bedford Blues (England), Parkes, Australia.

Romania

Catalin Fercu, Madalin Lemnaru, Paula Kinikinilau, Florin Vlaicu, Ionut Botezatu, Michael Wiringi, Florin Surugiu; Mihai Macovei, Viorel Lucaci, Valentin Ursache, Johannes van Heerden, Valentin Poparlan, Paulica Ion, Otar Turashvili, Mihaita Lazar.

Reserves

Andrei Radoi, Andrei Ursache, Alexandru Tarus, Daniel Carpo, Stelian Burcea, Valentin Calafeteanu, Adrian Apostol, Csaba Gal.

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