Fly-half Jared Barker kicked a penalty in the 76th minute to give Canada its first ever test victory over Scotland, winning 26-23 in front of a crowd of 5,274 at Vancouver's Thunderbird Stadium.
The victory is a huge boost for the national team program, which had undergone a number of off-field problems that culminated in the firing last summer of David Clark, a subsequent player's strike that scuttled three fall tests -- and a string of losses including a 102-8 embarrassment at the hands of Australia A two weeks ago.
The Canadians fought back from a seven point second half deficit to pip the Scots, who were ranked seventh in the Zurich World rankings.
Down 23-16 Canadian prop Jon Thiel scored a try under the posts in the 67th minute -- and with the Barker conversion the teams were tied at 23-23.
The 13th ranked Canadians had lost to Scotland in an unofficial test last weekend in Markham, Ontario -- by a score of 33-8 -- but played a full 80 minute game against the 7th ranked Scots -- giving Canadian rugby a huge boost after a troubled year and a half off the field.
Canada opened the scoring in the third minute when referee David McHugh called Scotland for collapsing the scrum at centre. Jared Barker calmly stroked the ball from fifty metres to give his side the early edge.
In the 11th minute fullback Winston Stanley did a quick throw-in at the Canadian 22 to wing Fred Asselin -- but the Scottish cover was up quickly -- causing a poor pass to Stanley which went to the deck. Scottish wing Chris Patterson hacked it on -- eventually chasing it down for the try in the left corner. Laney converted and the visitors were ahead 7-3.
Barker missed his second attempt of the day -- going just to the right from 35 metres.
Laney had a penalty chance just miss from 49 metres following a Canadian offside -- keeping the score at 7-3 Scotland.
An indirect penalty to Canada from a scrum gave Morgan Williams a quick tap penalty that had him down to the Scottish three metre line. A chip was gathered in by fullback Glenn Metcalfe -- and Scotland was charged with killing the ball. Canada ran the ball eventually moving it right where Rod Snow took the ball into contact with the chalk of the tryline. The ball came back and a pop pass from Williams to a charging Phil Murphy was enough to get the Perpignan No.8 across. Barker hit the easy conversion and Canada was once again in the lead 10-7.
Scotland were again called for pulling the scrum down in the 27th minute providing Barker with another shot at goal which he put through from 41 metres to give Canada a 13-7 lead.
Laney cut the Canadian lead to three with a ten metre penalty effort at 33 minutes -- 13-10 Canada.
Canadian indiscipline in a ruck resulted in Laney getting another shot at goal from 45 metres but he scuffed it badly with Canada mounting a counter attack. A turnover gave Scotland the ball with Duncan Hodge driving close to the line. Al Charron was then called for a professional foul -- killing the ball -- and was shown the yellow card by McHugh.
Scotland took the lineout option -- with the resulting maul freeing up scrum-half debutant Mike Blair for his first test try. Laney missed the conversion to end the half with the visitors in the lead 15-13.
Scotland continued to take advantage of the Canadian shortage with Simon Taylor scoring an unconverted try just five minutes after the restart. Laney added a penalty a few minutes later to give Scotland a 23-13 lead.
With Charron back on the pitch the Canadian pressure resumed with the red shirts driving to the Scottish five metre line. Barker lined up for the drop-goal -- but was wide from ten metres -- though a penalty a moment later allowed him to make amends -- reducing the Scottish lead to seven 23-16 after 57 minutes.
The Canadians began to grow confident with Sean Fauth, John Cannon and Nik Witkowski all making valuable ground through the Scottish backline.
In the 63 rd minute Jared Barker exposed a Scottish gap following a John Cannon break -- with the fly-half going to ground at the three metre line. The ball came back to Bridgend prop Jon Thiel who scrabbled across from three metres -- touching down under the posts. Barker converted and the teams were square 23-23.
Both sides began to play with renewed zeal despite the 25 degree heat -- with a win a reasonable prospect on both sides of the ball.
Canada scuttled promising opportunities with dropped balls -- in one instance John Cannon getting outside before he tried to dish to a supporting Sean Fauth -- who just missed reigning it in -- the crowd groaning at the miscue.
Scottish prop Craig Smith then got called for pulling down Morgan Williams' jersey after he had delivered the ball -- with Barker hitting the resulting penalty -- giving Canada a narrow 26-23 lead with just four minutes left on the clock.
Scotland countered a Winston Stanley kick to the Canadian 22 metre line -- but Canada recovered the ball with Stanley providing a long touch kick with the clock moving into injury time.
The Scottish mounted a late attack but the Canadian defense held -- a Canadian kick into touch ending the match -- and giving the North Americans their first ever test victory over Scotland -- the crowd erupting into a rousing rendition of the Maple Leaf forever.
Man of the Match: Jared Barker, in only his fourth test, and coming back from a debilitating knee injury, showed veteran poise in kicking four penalties and two conversions -- but more importantly in distributing the ball to his centre pair -- John Cannon and Nik Witkowski.
Moment of the Match: Canadian wing Sean Fauth foiled a Scottish attack at the Canadian five metre line by securing the ball from Chris Paterson after he went to ground -- and then took off on a fifty-five metre run -- thwarting a potential Scottish scoring opportunity with ten minutes left in the first half. The quick thinking wing stopped what could have been an establishing score with the score 13-7 at the time to Canada.
Villian of the Match: Scotland prop Craig Smith for pulling down on scrum-half Morgan Williams' jersey after he had passed the ball -- taking a senseless penalty that gave Canada the victory.
The Teams:
Scotland: 1 Craig Smith, 2 Gordon Bulloch, 3 Mattie Stewart, 4 Nathan Hines, 5 Stuart Grimes (c), 6 Simon Taylor, 7 Jason White, 8 Jon Petrie, 9 Michael Blair, 10 Duncan Hodge, 11 Rory Kerr, 12 Brendan Laney, 13 Andrew Craig, 14 Chris Paterson, 15 Glenn Metcalfe
Reserves: Allan Jacobsen, Donnie McFadyen, Steve Brotherstone, Ben Hinshelwood
Unused: Marcus Di Rollo, Andrew Hall, Graeme Burns
Canada: 1 Rod Snow, 2 Pat Dunkley, 3 John Thiel, 4 Alan Charron (c), 5 Mike James, 6 Dan Baugh, 7 Ryan Banks, 8 Phil Murphy, 9 Morgan Williams, 10 Jared Barker, 11 Fred Asselin, 12 John Cannon, 13 Nik Witkowski, 14 Sean Fauth, 15 Winston Stanley
Reserves: Ed Knaggs, Kyle Nichols, Kevin Wirachowski, Colin Yukes
Unused: Ed Fairhurst, Bobby Ross, Harry Toews
Referee: Mchugh d.
Points Scorers:
Scotland
Tries: Blair M.R.L. 1, Taylor S.M. 1, Paterson C.D. 1
Conv: Laney B.J. 1
Pen K.: Laney B.J. 2
Canada
Tries: Murphy P. 1, Thiel J. 1
Conv: Barker J. 2
Pen K.: Barker J. 4
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