Canada defeated Uruguay 51-16 in Edmonton, Alberta to take a commanding 3-0 lead in the Americas Zone 2003 Rugby World Cup qualifiers. The South Americans meanwhile now fall to last place behind Chile (3rd) and the United States who beat Los Condores in Salt Lake City.
Jared Barker continued his kicking dominance, putting across 19 points on the day from two conversions and five penalties -- and has not missed a kick at goal in the current test season. Overall he is a staggering 41 of 43 and impressed the 3,000 strong crowd at Ellerslie Park
Canadian tries were scored by Winston Stanley, Marco DiGiroamo, Morgan Williams, and forwards Pat Dunkley and Jon Thiel.
Coach David Clark was a bit surprised by the approach the Uruguayans took -- opting to kick possession away rather than use the more familiar rolling maul that is a trademark of South American rugby.
"We didn't think they would do that -- though we saw them do it last week against Chile," offered Clark. "They started the game by [kicking] all their possession away -- which is no way to play really. They did surprise us because they didn't get into their rolling maul as much as I thought they would -- and we were ready for that."
Coach for Los Teros Diego Oramechea said they had planned to use that tactic in order to create rucking opportunities -- but Canada simply did too much when they got possession.
"We have our plan and we used the kick up to ruck over the ball. But when Canada has the ball they are so effective. I didn't think the final score reflected the effort we put across for three quarters of the game," he said.
Urugauay opened the scoring after playing some useful rugby in the Canadian end -- with inside centre Joaquin De Freitas slotting a penalty after Canada was penalized for an offside -- and then a further ten metres for not retreating quickly enough.
Barker began his perfect day with a kick in the 17th minute from 41 metres to tie the game at 3-3.
Two minutes later he punished an offside by the Teros -- putting the ball across from ten metres. The Uruguayans continued to be heavily penalized by referee Steve Walsh -- as Barker kicked his third of the day to make the score 9-3 after twenty-five minutes.
Outside centre Nik Witksowski continues to shine this season since making the move from the wing -- and on this day initiated a run to the Teros thirty metre line before passing to Sean Fauth who then freed fullback Winston Stanley for a try under the posts. Barker converted and then added a penalty at forty minutes to give Canada a 19-3 lead at the interval.
The Uruguayans played with some fire to start the second half -- and ground down to the Canadian ten metre line before No.8 Hernan Ponte broke free for a try just left of the posts. De Freitas converted and it was 19-10 to the Canucks.
Clark brought standout utility back Marco DiGirolamo in for Sean Fauth to start the second half -- and the Toronto native who had scored two tries against the US did not disappoint -- taking a counter attack from thirty metres -- touching down for the converted try to give Canada a 26-10 lead after 55 minutes.
De Freitas then added his third penalty of the day to keep his side in the game. Then -- as if the struggle against the larger Canadian forwards was not enough fly-half Sebastien Aguirre was sinbinned for putting his boots in a ruck -- putting the visitors down to 14 men.
Barker hit a 39 metre shot to keep his streak alive -- with Uruguay countering with a Juan Menchaca drop-goal two minutes later to make the score 29-16 after 60 minutes.
Bob Ross came on for Barker in the final fifteen minutes -- kicking a long penalty to increase the advantage to 31-16.
As the Uruguayan forwards began to tire -- as did the team doctor who was tending to many wounds -- the Canadian attack picked up a notch with Morgan Williams scoring a sparkling try off passes from Colin Yukes and Phil Murphy. With the Ross conversion the Canadians were well in the lead 39-16.
DiGirolamo added to his impressive test season with a huge break that got him to within fifteen metres of the line before defensive cover pulled him down. As he was about to hit the turf he threw a pass to trailing hooker Pat Dunkley who eagerly took the gift across for Canada's fourth try of the day -- which Ross converted to make the score 46-16.
Mike James initiated the final try of the day -- as the impressive second row charged to the Uruguayan ten metre line before getting bundled into touch. Before he went out he managed a sharp backhand pass to keep the ball alive with prop Jon Thiel charging over for the final score.
The Bridgend prop admitted the visiting forwards made the Canadian pack work hard for the victory.
"They were pretty big and they took it to us in the first little bit and then they got tired which helped us [open] the game up," said Thiel.
We didn't come out as well as we should have in the second half," noted Clark. "We allowed them to score a try and we were under pressure. We would have liked to come into the second half spark it up a bit and really rip into them -- and I think we need to look at that when we prepare for [Chile] next week."
Man of the Match: Fly-half Jared Barker's flawless kicking kept the Canadians in this match in the early going when the offense sputtered at times. Then with good distribution, pressure relieving kicks and thoughtful running he helped create a number of flowing moves.
Moment of the match: The second half try by Marco DiGirolamo exposed the Uruguayan defence -- but also showcased his raw speed and nose for the line. It was the try that really opened the match up for Canada.
Villain of the match: Fly-half Sebastien Aguirre getting sinbinned really put his team behind when they were beginning to show some signs of purpose.
The teams:
Canada: 1 Rod Snow, 2 Pat Dunkley, 3 John Thiel, 4 Mike James, 5 Colin Yukes, 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: Marco Di Girolomo, Ed Fairhurst, Mark Lawson, Phil Murphy, Bobby Ross, Adam Van Staveren
Unused: Kevin Tkachuk
Attendance: 3000
Referee: Walsh s.r.
Points Scorers:
Canada
Tries: Stanley W.U. 1, Williams M. 1, Dunkley P. 1, Thiel J. 1, Di Girolomo M. 1
Conv: Barker J. 2, Ross R.P. 2
Pen K.: Barker J. 5, Ross R.P. 1
Uruguay
Tries: Ponte H. 1
Conv: De Freitas J. 1
Pen K.: De Freitas J. 2
Drop G.: Menchaca J. 1
No comments:
Post a Comment