Maori ABs see off Canada

The Maori All Blacks overcame a sin-binned player in each half to power past Canada 32-19 in Friday's fixture at Oxford University Rugby Club.

In a lacklustre but testy match, the Maori scored two tries to one plus 22 points from Willie Ripia.

The match closed the British tours of both teams.  The Maori began with a loss, their first in five years, to English club Leicester then beat an English Championship XV.  Canada rebounded from a 42-12 loss to Samoa by dismantling Russia 35-3.  But the Canadians couldn't stop their fourth straight loss to the Maori.

The Maori practically began the match with 14, with lock Romana Graham yellow-carded for a high tackle.  They still led 9-0 within 15 minutes from Ripia penalties.  The referee had to be replaced after hurting his leg, and by half-time Andre Taylor dotted down and the Maori led 19-9.

Another high tackle cost midfielder Tim Bateman time in the sin-bin and again Canada failed to capitalise.  Ripia extended the Maori lead to 25-9 before Canada finally crossed through replacement prop Ray Barkwill to close within six.  But in the last minute the Maori gave centre Charlie Ngatai an overlap for a converted try.

The scorers:

For Maori All Blacks:
Tries:  Taylor, Ngatai
Con:  Ripia 2
Pen:  Ripia 6

For Canada:
Try:  Barkwill
Con:  Braid
Pen:  Pritchard 4

Canada:  15 James Pritchard, 14 Jeff Hassler, 13 Ciaran Hearn, 12 Phil Mackenzie, 11 Taylor Paris, 10 Connor Braid, 9 Phil Mack, 8 Aaron Carpenter, 7 Chauncey O'Toole, 6 Tyler Ardron, 5 Tyler Hotson, 4 Jebb Sinclair, 3 Andrew Tiedemann, 2 Ryan Hamilton, 1 Hubert Buydens.
Replacements:  16 Jason Marshall, 17 Ray Barkwill, 18 Doug Wooldridge, 19 Brett Beukeboom, 20 John Moonlight, 21 Eric Wilson, 22 Nathan Hirayama, 23 Sean Duke.

Maori ABs:  15 Trent Renata, 14 Kurt Baker, 13 Charlie Ngatai, 12 Tim Bateman, 11 Andre Taylor, 10 Willie Ripia, 9 Frae Wilson, 8 Elliot Dixon, 7 Tanerau Latimer (captain), 6 Shane Christie, 5 Romana Graham, 4 Jason Eaton, 3 Ben May, 2 Quentin Macdonald, 1 Bronson Murray.
Replacements:  16 Hika Elliot, 17 Jacob Ellison, 18 Ben Afeaki, 19 Jarrad Hoeata, 20 Nick Crosswell, 21 Jamieson Gibson-Park, 22 Jackson Willison, 23 Declan O'Donnell.

Referee:  Martin Fox (England)
Assistant referees:  Ross Campbell (England), Roger Baileff (England)