The USA Eagles beat Canada by 35-20 in their Pan-American Championship fixture in Buenos Aires on Wednesday evening, with the winners outscoring the Canucks by four tries to two, giving them two successive wins over their North American rivals.
The Eagles, who were hammered in the first round by Argentina, played with discipline, patience and power, running into 20-6 half-time lead, despite being forced to play into the wind in the first stanza.
The more consistent Americans scored four tries, two in each half, as they dominated the line-out and gave fly-half Mike Hercus every opportunity to use his boot as he amassed 20 points through a try, three conversions, two penalties and a drop-goal.
America's first try came through Hercus as he tore through a gap in Canada's line after a series of phases in Canada's 22 that stretched the defence.
Wing Riaan van Zyl scored on a similar play at 36 minutes as James Pritchard accounted for Canada's first-half points with two penalties. Hercus also struck a penalty and a drop-goal before the half.
Scrum-half Kevin Dalzell notched up his side's third try shortly after half-time, with prop Dan Dorsey getting their fourth try. Hercus kicked a penalty and a conversion for a 35-13 lead before a Morgan Williams try and a James Pritchard conversion made the final score 35-20.
"The difference was that we were very naive," said Canada coach David Clark after the game.
"We played as individuals rather than as a team. We lose our structure too easily when put under pressure as the Americans applied tonight. We didn't use the wind to our advantage as we should have and could have done.
"We lost line-outs and didn't adjust to American pressure and we didn't follow the gameplan. Full marks to the Americans they ran hard and found holes in our defence and they held onto the ball. We lacked spark tonight and to lose to the US twice in a year is pretty drastic stuff."
Said a pleased USA coach Tom Billups afterwards: "We have set some goals for our players and this was not an opponent specific win tonight.
"We have challenged our players to become students of the game and that means they have to work as hard intellectually as they do physically at the game. It is starting to come to fruition and we are happy that the guys played hard and won the game. We're glad to have Mike Hercus back and Dan Lyle led the team well."
The Eagles face Uruguay on Saturday, while the Canadians have a tough encounter against the Pumas of Argentina in the final round of Pan-Am fixtures.
The teams:
Canada: 1 John Thiel, 2 Mark Lawson, 3 Kevin Tkachuk, 4 Mike James (c), 5 Colin Yukes, 6 Jeff Reid, 7 Adam Van Staveren, 8 Josh Jackson, 9 Ed Fairhurst, 10 Jared Barker, 11 Sean Fauth, 12 John Cannon, 13 Matt King, 14 Winston Stanley, 15 James Pritchard
Reserves: Garth Cooke, Jim Douglas, Rod Snow, Morgan Williams, Ryan Smith
Unused: Pat Dunkley, Nik Witkowski
United States: 1 Dan Dorsey, 2 Kirk Khasigian, 3 Mike MacDonald, 4 Luke Gross, 5 Alec Parker, 6 Conrad Hodgson, 7 Kort Schubert, 8 Dan Lyle (c), 9 Kevin Dalzell, 10 Mike Hercus, 11 David Fee, 12 Kain Cross, 13 Phillip Eloff, 14 Riaan Van Zyl, 15 Paul Emerick
Reserves: Jason Keyter, Richard Liddington, Jurie Gouws, Mose Timoteo, Matt Wyatt
Unused: Gerhard Klerck, Matt Sherman
Referee: Slinger s.
Points Scorers:
Canada
Tries: Lawson M. 1, Williams M. 1
Conv: Pritchard J. 2
Pen K.: Pritchard J. 2
United States
Tries: Van Zyl R. 1, Hercus M. 1, Dalzell K. 1, Dorsey D.W. 1
Conv: Hercus M. 3
Pen K.: Hercus M. 2
Drop G.: Hercus M. 1
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