Canadian national senior men's coach Kieran Crowley has released a 50-man extended Rugby World Cup squad.

A squad list is a requirement of the IRB for the Rugby World Cup and can be as few as 30 or as many as 50 players.

While the 30-man cup squad confirmation isn't due until July, Crowley said he wanted players to know where they stood in terms of development and selection opportunities.

"We wanted to make it 50 to show player where they're at," Crowley said. "We've got to make sure all players know they're in contention so they continue to work hard."

The squad features all members of the 2011 Churchill Cup squad and players ranging in age and experience.

"It's a squad we've narrowed down when looking at positional coverage," Crowley said. "We've picked the 50 best players that we can and the Canadian rugby Championship has played a big part in that. We've certainly used the Americas Rugby Championship trip to Argentina, the European tour in November and the Churchill Cup to expose a lot of players, which allowed us to narrow it down to the group we have. It's been a long process."

At the helm of the squad is Pat Riordan, who Crowley has named his Rugby World Cup captain.

The 31-year-old hooker from Burnaby, British Columbia, has 37 caps for Canada and brings to the table the elements Crowley looks for in a captain.

"Pat's been captain ever since I've been here," Crowley said. "He has the values I'm looking for in a player. He works hard on and off the field, he knows the game and creates a very positive team environment."

While no players have been ruled out of the squad due to injury, the squad is without prop Kevin Tkachuk.

The 34-year-old with more than 50 caps to his name recently finished his final season with the Glasgow Warriors and Crowley said there were several factors that led to the decision not to include him.

"Kevin has been a great servant for Canadian rugby," Crowley said. "We just feel there's been some players that have gone past him in terms of performance.

"You've got to have so many players who can play both sides of the scrum. Then you look at how many looseheads and tightheads you've got. We feel we've looked at all the positions and covered them."

In terms of the overall forward selections, Crowley felt the scrum had show improvements during the Churchill Cup, but knows the Rugby World Cup will present distinct challenges up front with Japan, Tonga, France and New Zealand competing in Canada's pool.

"Our scrums improved, but it's still a massive challenge," Crowley said. "We've got a long way to go."

Crowley added that there were some other players that had been working hard and came close to selection.

"There's a couple of players that are probably very unlucky to not be included in this list," he said. "But it's about positional coverage."

Crowley also addressed the youth element in the squad, saying development has been a key focus in the lead up to the World Cup.

"Over the last couple of years we've developed players through various opportunities to the extent that in the last year we've had players come through in ability and experience," he said. "There are some young players in the squad. Youth brings excitement, it brings a lack of fear. They bring a change of environment."

Forwards

Hookers
Ryan Hamilton (Vancouver, B.C., B.C. Bears/CRC)
Mike Pletch (Lucan, ON, Ontario Blues/CRC)
Pat Riordan (Burnaby, B.C., B.C. Bears/CRC)


Props
Hubert Buydens (Saskatoon, SK, Prairie Wolf Pack/CRC)
Tom Dolezel (London, ON, Ontario Blues/CRC)
Scott Franklin (Regina, SK, Prairie Wolf Pack/CRC)
Jason Marshall (Vancouver, B.C., B.C. Bears/CRC)
Andrew Tiedemann (St. Albert, AB, Prairie Wolf Pack/CRC)
Frank Walsh (St. John's, NFLD, The Rock/CRC)
Doug Wooldridge (Lindsay, ON, Ontario Blues/CRC)



Second Row
Brett Beukeboom (Lindsay, ON, Ontario Blues/CRC)
Jamie Cudmore (Squamish, B.C., Clermont Ferrand/PRO)
Brian Erichsen (Vancouver, B.C., B.C. Bears/CRC)
Mitch Gudgeon (Victoria, B.C., B.C. Bears/CRC)
Tyler Hotson (Vancouver, B.C., Plymouth/PRO)
Jon Phelan (Montreal, QC, The Rock/CRC)
Luke Tait (Barrie, ON, unattached)



Back Row
Tyler Ardron (Peterborough, ON, Ontario Blues/CRC)
Aaron Carpenter (Brantford, ON, Plymouth Albion/PRO)
Nanyak Dala (Saskatoon, SK, Prairie Wolf Pack/CRC)
Adam Kleeburger (White Rock,B.C., Unattached)
Jeremy Kyne (Wellington, NZ/Edmonton, AB, Prairie Wolf Pack/CRC)
Stan McKeen (Vancouver, B.C., Oxford University)
John Moonlight (Pickering, ON, Ontario Blues/CRC)
Chauncey O'Toole (Bell Isle, NB, The Rock/CRC)
Kevin Parfrey (St. John’s, NB, The Rock/CRC)
Jebb Sinclair (Fredericton, NB, The Rock/CRC)
Sean Michael-Stephen (Oakville, ON, Plymouth Albion/PRO)



Backs

Scrum-halves
Kyle Armstrong (Whitby, ON, Ontario Blues/CRC)
Ed Fairhurst (Victoria, B.C., B.C. Bears/CRC)
Jamie Mackenzie (Oakville, ON, Esher/PRO)
Sean White (Victoria, B.C., B.C. Bears/CRC)
Eric Wilson (Vancouver, B.C., B.C. Bears/CRC)



Fly-halves
Connor Braid (Victoria, B.C., B.C. Bears/CRC)
Nathan Hirayama (Richmond, B.C., B.C. Bears/CRC)
Ander Monro (Victoria, B.C., Ontario Blues/CRC)



Centres
Nick Blevins (Vancouver, B.C., Prairie Wolf Pack/CRC)
Ryan Smith (Calgary, AB, Prairie Wolf Pack/CRC)
Conor Trainor (Victoria, B.C., B.C. Bears/CRC)
Phil Mackenzie (Oakville, ON, Esher/PRO)
Mike Scholz (Oakville, ON, Prairie Wolf Pack/CRC)
Tyler Wish (Victoria, BC, The Rock/CRC)


Wings
Sean Duke (Vancouver, B.C., B.C. Bears/CRC)
Justin Mensah-Coker (Vancouver, B.C., B.C. Bears)
DTH van der Merwe (Victoria, B.C., Glasgow Warriors/PRO)
Jeff Hassler (Calgary, AB, Prairie Wolf Pack/CRC)
Ciaran Hearn (Conception Bay, NFLD, The Rock/CRC)
Taylor Paris (Barrie, ON, Ontario Blues/CRC)


Fullbacks
Matt Evans (Duncan, B.C., Unattached)
James Pritchard (Parkes, Australia, Bedford/PRO)

It’s a relatively slow weekend in 7s if you count only qualifier tournaments, but it's still an active weekend for seven-a-side rugby. 

The Oasis 7s is the second of the tournaments in Southern California, with Belmont Shore and OMBAC expected to lead a competitive field.

In Oregon, ORSU hosts the Roy Lucas 7s, named after a longtime and beloved player who died in 1995 after collapsing during a rugby game.

Interestingly, June 25 was Lucas’s birthdate; he would have been 68.

Old Puget Sound Beach leads a competitive field in the men’s bracket that also includes hosts ORSU, and teams from Battleground, Wash., Corvallis, Ore., Portland, Olympia, Wash., and Eugene.

Also contenders are the Eastside Tsunami, from Portland, and the Fort Tacoma squad, whose name implies a collaboration with nearby Joint Base Fort Lewis-McChord.

It’s a small bracket for the women, with ORSU, Tacoma, Corvallis and Rip City rounding out the competition.

Further north the Hogfest 7s takes place in Bellingham, Wash. And further north than that will be the Vancouver 7s.

Defending BC 7s Series champs Burnaby Lake leads a strong field in the Elite Division of the Vancouver 7s, which also features defending USA national champs Old Puget Sound Beach (yes we know they are set to play in Portland, too; OPSB is splitting its squad for the weekend).

This looks to be the debut for OPSB of USA player Miles Craigwell.

OPSB is set to play Bayside, Burnaby Lake and Youngbucks. Not at the tournament are series leaders James Bay (OPSB is third).

OPSB also appears to be fielding, believe it or not, a 2nd side, meaning they will be playing three sides in the top bracket of two different tournaments 350 miles apart.

In Texas an intriguing West Qualifier tournament attempts to answer who is best in the West. Dallas looks very strong, as does Denver and Glendale. It will be a clash. See more here.

In Northern California, the Palo Alto 7s series begins. This series usually focuses on getting teams games, rather than giving them trophies, and can often produce some weird results, but also some thrilling games.

In the Midwest, a superb-looking Chicago Lions team looks to be favorites in the Firehouse 7s, hosted by the Chicago Blaze in Lamont, Ill. See more here.

This is a Midwest Sevens Series tournament, with points on offer.

No points on offer at the Harborfest 7s, hosted by the University of Wisconsin-Parkside. But the Steel City 7s in Pittsburgh is a qualifier as well.

The Mid-Atlantic 7s series takes a weekend off, as does the Northeast series.

For the Northeast, the reason is that two well-respected tournaments are in action, with the Mad River 7s in Stowe, Vt., and the Hudson Valley 10s in Cornwall-on-Hudson.

The MARFU series takes a break because of the PAC 7s, which always draws a huge number of teams.

Also in action this weekend: Harrisburg 7s in Annville, Pa., the Vulcan 7s in Birmingham, Ala., and the Todd Miller 7s in Sanford, Fla.