Canada clip Eagles' wings

The USA Eagles lost their World Cup warm-up match 27-7 against Canada in front of a sold-out crowd at Infinity Park on Saturday.

Despite plenty of possession and territory for the home side, it was USA errors that allowed Canada to run in three tries during the match.

The opening points of the match came from Canadian center DTH van der Merwe who picked up a loose ball and raced 50 meters to score.

Full-back James Pritchard kicked the conversion, putting Canada 7-0 up after five minutes.  The USA replied by putting some excellent phases together, getting over the advantage line with every carry.

This pressure eventually resulted in two yellow cards, one for lock Jamie Cudmore and later flanker Chauncey O'Toole.  Both players were penalised for not coming through the gate during a ruck.

Despite a lack of possession Pritchard added a penalty for Canada.

Down 10-0, the USA began another build-up using multiple attacking phases.  This time Malifa put a deft kick through with full-back Blaine Scully sliding over to score for the home side.

The capacity crowd enjoyed Malifa's sideline conversion, leaving the half-time score at 10-7.

Winger Taku Ngwenya sparked the second half into action with an amazing run, beating three defenders, sending Louis Stanfill over in the corner.  The television match official (TMO) adjudged that Stanfill was held up over the tryline.

The Eagles then lost Chris Biller to a yellow card for not rolling away at the ruck, with the hooker being sent to the sin bin for ten minutes.  From the resulting penalty Pritchard put Canada ahead 13-7.

Paul Emerick made his second massive break of the match, slicing through the Canadian mid field.  But a turnover led to Canada's van der Merwe setting up a try for Aaron Carpenter.

The Eagles had their chances later in the match, but another long range try saw winger Phil Mackenzie dot down, sealing the match 27-7.

The scorers:

For Canada:
Tries:Van der Merwe, Carpenter, Mackenzie;
Cons:  Pritchard 3
Pens:  Pritchard 2

For USA:
Try:  Scully
Con:  Malifa