Canada tame Russian Bears

Canada bounced back from last week's heavy defeat to Samoa to claim a convincing 35-3 victory over Russia in Wales on Saturday.

The result is Canada's third consecutive win over the Bears.

Canada led 16-3 at half time and 35-3 on the hour mark before some solid defending held the desperate Russians at bay in the final quarter.

Man of the Match Jeff Hassler, showed off blistering speed in scoring two of Canada's four tries — including one from 80 metres out — and setting up a third.

Hassler, who made his debut in June, claimed his maiden Test try in the 18th minute, counterattacking from his own 22.  James Pritchard, who kicked six from seven attempts on the night, converted for 13-3.

Soon after halftime, Hassler took an up-and-under over his shoulder running back in defence, turned, and broke past five defenders before before offloading to fellow wing Taylor Paris, who finished.

Three minutes later, insider centre Nick Blevins scored from his own chargedown.

The final score of the night came as Hassler scored his second on 59.  A run from halfway to beat three men, saw him go over in the corner, and put the finishing touch to a night of magic for the Canadians.

The Canadians were satisfied after being thumped by Samoa 42-12 at the same Parc Eirias last week.

"We felt we had to bring a little more physicality," said captain Aaron Carpenter.

"We ran some hard lines and broke them and scored some nice tries."

Head coach Kieran Crowley was also pleased to bounce back from the disappointment of last week:

"The defensive side of our game in the final period was outstanding," he said.

"We're very pleased with the win, and we scored some good tries, and to keep the other team tryless was a good performance" he said.

The scorers:

For Canada:
Tries:  Hassler 2, Paris, Blevins
Cons:  Pritchard 3
Pens:  Pritchard 3

For Russia:
Pen:  Klyuchnikov

Canada:  15 James Pritchard, 14 Jeff Hassler, 13 Ciaran Hearn, 12 Nick Blevins, 11 Taylor Paris, 10 Harry Jones, 9 Eric Wilson, 8 Aaron Carpenter, 7 Chauncey O'Toole, 6 Tyler Ardon, 5 Tyler Hotson, 4 Jebb Sinclair, 3 Jason Marshall, 2 Ryan Hamilton, 1 Andrew Tiedemann.
Replacements:  16 Hubert Buydens, 17 Ray Barkwill, 18 Doug Wooldridge, 19 Jon Phelan, 20 John Moonlight, 21 Nanyak Dala, 22 Phil Mack.

Russia:  15 Igor Klyuchnikov, 14 Denis Simplikevich, 13 Vasily Artemyev, 12 Dmitry Gerasimov, 11 Vladimir Ostroushko, 10 Sergey Sugrobov, 9 Alexey Shcherban, 8 Victor Gresev, 7 Pavel Butenko, 6 Andrey Temnov, 5 Kirill Kulemin, 4 Alexander Voytov (capt), 3 Evgeny Pronenko, 2 Valery Tsnobiladze, 1 Grigory Tsnobiladze.
Replacements:  16 Vladislav Korshunov, 17 Alexey Volkov, 18 Innokentiy Zykov, 19 Andrey Garbuzov, 20 Ramil Gaysin, 21 Gleb Babkin, 22 Yuri Vengerov, 23 Sergey Trishin.

Venue:  Parc Eirias, Colwyn Bay, Wales
Referee:  Lourens van der Merwe (South Africa)
Assistant referees:  Tim Hayes (Wales), Wayne Davies (Wales)