Canada has put its first leg of the 2003 Rugby World Cup qualifiers to bed with a convincing 26-9 victory over the USA at Fletcher's Field in Markham.
The match -- the first of six home and away tests for the two squads that will also involve Chile and Uruguay -- was played under intense 27 degree heat -- which began to take its toll in the second half.
Jared Barker had another sparkling day for Canada -- with the fly-half striking for two conversions and four penalties for a 16 point haul.
The US responded with two Link Wilfley kicks along with a solo penalty from relatively new cap Mike Hercus -- though Wilfley missed another four attempts on the day.
Canada had a 10-6 half time lead after flanker Dan Baugh completed a long passage where fullback Winston Stanley brought the ball up to the US 30 metre line before offloading to a trailing Rod Snow, who passed back to Fauth. The sprinty winger then passed it back to Snow at the ten metre line -- where he flipped it to Baugh -- who looked to pass outside before getting tackled across the Eagles try line. With the Barker conversion the Canucks seemed poised to run away with the match in the second half.
"The work was good and we got the ball wide and had plenty of support. We put the ball inside, outside -- then we scored under the posts -- you can't get any better than that, said a jubilant Canadian head coach David Clark -- whose team has now won two in a row -- including a 26-23 victory over Scotland two weeks ago.
The US opened the scoring at the twenty minute mark -- after referee Alan Lewis of Ireland judged Canada offside. Link Wilfley hit the ball cleanly from 33 metres -- to give his side a 3-0 lead.
The Canadians got those points back two minutes later with a Jared Barker penalty kick -- after the Eagles were guilty of killing the ball -- 3-3 after twenty-two minutes.
The US made some threatening moves with its young backline -- driving to the Canadian two metre line -- with the Canucks finally succumbing to the pressure with an offside penalty. Wilfley made no mistake to give his team a 6-3 lead.
The try by Baugh followed but the US were still in the contest -- unlike the week before where Scotland had opened a huge halftime lead.
"They were very much to type actually," said coach Tom Billups of the Canadians. "They are a cagey bunch -- and they picked their moments well. At test level rugby you can't afford to miss as many points as we did and expect to come away with a result. That proved out again today -- and it turned out to be a very typical US versus Canada rugby game."
From the opening kick off in the second half the Eagles had another shot at goal after Canada was called for killing the ball in the ruck -- but Wilfley's kicking troubles continued -- with the Rotherham fly-half missing from twenty-three metres.
The Americans then avoided a penalty as Ryan Banks chased a well weighted ball from John Cannon down the left wing. New cap David Fee -- seeing no support options slapped the ball into touch rather than take contact in close to the tryline -- but Lewis did not make the call and the US were able to control the resulting Canadian lineout.
Al Charron had his typical day at the office with the Canadian captain getting a free pass through the US line all afternoon. A number of his traipsing runs exposed the young American backline -- and supporting forwards began to spin the ball with authority in the loose.
In the 53rd minute a long Canadian run -- that touched at least ten sets of hands -- finally ended with a penalty against the US for killing the ball. Barker set the kick up in front of the posts -- approximately ten metres out. As he approached to make the kick Wilfley charged it down -- to the amazement of all assembled. Lewis -- somewhat puzzled issued a no charge order that is normally heard for conversion kicks -- and Barker put the chip shot through easily to extend the Canadian lead to 13-6.
The Canadians kept the US in check for some minutes -- but Nik Witkowski was called for playing the ball on the ground -- giving the Eagles another shot at goal. Hercus took over the kicking chores -- and curled his 29 metre effort to pull his side to within four -- 13-9.
Barker continued to show he is a long threat with his foot -- slotting a penalty from 49 metres -- with former Canadian fly-half and new CEO of Rugby Canada Gareth Rees whooping his appreciation for the huge kick.
With a comfortable lead the Canadians began to expand the game plan -- with Adam Van Staveren breaking free on his 35 metre line -- then passing to Fauth who zoomed up the left wing before finding scrum-half Morgan Williams in space. The speedy half back seemed away to the races when Olo Fifita stuck his hand out and collared him bringing him to ground heavily. The crowd of 2,200 crowed its anger at Lewis for the non-call -- and the US ended up with the throw in. Lewis missed a total of five high tackles in the game -- a concern to be sure as players on both sides of the ball began to feel the results of these transgressions.
At 66 minutes John Cannon found a gap inside the American half -- driving to the five metre line before finding second row Mike James who lunged across for the try under the posts. The Barker conversion gave Canada a 23-9 lead.
Barker had the final say on matters with a long penalty and the final 26-9 scoreline.
While there were a number of blood substitutions during the game -- the single worse incident occurred with just minutes to go and the Eagles threatening the Canadian line. Hercus was taking the ball into contact when he was tackled by Canadian fly-half Bob Ross -- knocking him back into Keyter causing the pair to clack heads in a sickening crunch. Medical personnel rushed to the field as blood poured from a wound above Keyter's eye -- with Hercus also coming off from the collision.
Both left the field under their own power-- though following the game Hercus was nauseaous and taken to local hospital with a possible concussion.
Despite American pressure inside the Canadian twenty-two metre line the Canadians defensive resolve did not break -- and with the full time whistle the men in red had secured a 17 point advantage heading into Chicago on July 13th as the two teams meet for the second half of the home and away series.
Man-of-the-Match: Jared Barker went 6 for 6 for Canada, while Ryan Banks made many hard yards in his hour on the field, but Al Charron put his typical stamp on events with big runs, even bigger tackles -- and a number of well passed balls that expanded Canada's game.
Moment-of-the-match: The first Canadian try showed a great interaction between the forwards and backs -- with Rod Snow yet again finding himself close to the tryline before passing off to Dan Baugh.
Villain-of-the-match: Villain is a harsh word -- but Link Wilfley with the four missed kicks and then the mystifying charge down did not help his side out on a day he was sorely needed.
The teams:
Canada: 1 Rod Snow, 2 Pat Dunkley, 3 John Thiel, 4 Mike James, 5 John Tait, 6 Dan Baugh, 7 Alan Charron (c), 8 Ryan Banks, 9 Morgan Williams, 10 Jared Barker, 11 Fred Asselin, 12 John Cannon, 13 Nik Witkowski, 14 Sean Fauth, 15 Winston Stanley
Reserves: Ed Fairhurst, Mark Lawson, Phil Murphy, Bobby Ross, Adam Van Staveren
Unused: Marco Di Girolomo, Kevin Tkachuk
United States: 1 Dan Dorsey, 2 Kirk Khasigian, 3 Mike MacDonald, 4 Philippe Farner, 5 Luke Gross, 6 Olo Fifita, 7 Kort Schubert, 8 Dave Hodges (c), 9 Kevin Dalzell, 10 Mike Hercus, 11 Johnny Naqica, 12 Jason Keyter, 13 Link Wilfley, 14 David Fee, 15 Mose Timoteo
Unused: Chris Miller, John Buchholz, John Tarpoff
Attendance: 2200
Referee: Lewis a.
Points Scorers:
Canada
Tries: James M.B. 1, Baugh D.R. 1
Conv: Barker J. 2
Pen K.: Barker J. 4
United States
Pen K.: Wilfley L.M. 2, Hercus M. 1
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