Phil Mack, one of the great Island comeback sports stories of the recent past, made a vow when he faced a career-threatening injury.

“After the knee surgery [two years ago], I was determined that was not going to be the end of my career,” said the Victoria rugby star.

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“I put my head down and worked.”

Did he ever.

Mack, named to the 2014 IRB all-world Dream Team for helping lead Canada to No. 6 in the world in sevens, is also a factor for Canada in XVs.

Mack will start at scrum-half Saturday, as he did in the 19-17 loss to Scotland last week at BMO Field in Toronto, when Canada concludes its June Test series with a Pacific Cup game against the U.S. Eagles in Sacramento (3 p.m. PDT on TSN).

A couple of other Island players are also staging comebacks from injury Saturday with Glasgow Warriors pro DTH Van der Merwe of Victoria named to start and Nathan Hirayama of the UVic Vikes to dress as a sub.

Island players named to start by head coach Kieran Crowley of Mill Bay include Mack, John Moonlight, Connor Braid and Jeff Hassler of James Bay, Van der Merwe, and also Ciaran Hearn of Castaway Wanderers

World No. 16 Canada and the No. 18 U.S. both lost to Scotland and Japan earlier this month.

The Canadians hope to extend an eight-game unbeaten streak against the Americans that included three straight wins in 2013. Canada won a two-match World Cup qualifying tie by 20 points last summer after taking a 16-9 decision over the Eagles in May in Edmonton.

cdheensaw@timescolonist.com

Twitter.com/tc_vicsports