Canada 21 Uruguay 11

Canada came away 21-11 winners over Uruguay in its first match at the 2003 Pan American Tournament at the Buenos Aires Rugby and Cricket club.  Canada held a 11-0 lead at half-time only to let the Teros back into the game in the first 15 minutes of the second half to level the scores at 11-all.

Canada then scored two tries in the last 12 minutes to seal their victory, their first win since beating Chile last August.  Since then the Canadians have lost six successive Tests.  Last August Uruguay beat them 25-23.

Canada's win says much for its commitment and determination in a feisty affair that saw a number of incidents that could have produced more yellow cards than the one handed Rod Snow by Argentina referee Santiago Borsani for a professional foul at 56 minutes.  Canada also lost its captain Ryan Banks at eight minutes when he strained his knee.  Mike James took over the captaincy.

"I would have preferred not to have had to assume the role as we could have used Ryan out there on the field today," James said after the game.

"There is a bit more responsibility being captain, and having to deal with the referee is a difficult task, especially in a game like this one.  Nevertheless, I'm delighted we finally got things together and secured a win."

Canada looked confident in the early going playing into the wind in 10 degree, cloudy weather.  Bob Ross controlled the game well, using the boot to secure position and putting the men from across the River Plate on the defensive.

He kicked a penalty at four minutes to give Canada an early lead.  Soon after Canada's backs brought Winston Stanley in from the left wing to break a tackle and romp into the corner from 50-metres for his 23rd try in a Canadian jersey.

At 19 minutes Bob Ross took his all time record points total for his country to 401 with a penalty from 40 metres as Canada fell off the pace for the latter part of the half allowing Uruguay four kickable penalties, all of which were missed.

Uruguay began the second stanza at a high rate of knots that garnered fullback Juan Menchaca a penalty at 45 minutes, and another at 56 minutes on Snow's dispatch to the sin bin -- 11-6.

Uruguay using the pick-and-drive to effect put Canada under pressure but the visitor's defence held solid.  Uruguay's try came on a strange play in the 64th minute when its outside half hoisted a ball into the air with his team inside Canada's 22-metre area, but unable to penetrate.  The kick looked more akin to something seen in the Fourth Division, but when Canada caught the ball in the centre, it lost the ball in contact allowing the Teros wing Alfonso Cardoso to pick up and sprint into the corner untouched.  A strange but effective play.  11-11.

Now Canada responded through Sean Fauth, who came on for Marco Di Girolamo, sending John Cannon from the wing to the centre.  Fauth hadn't been on the field more than a minute when the ball spun through the backs, Nik Witkowski took a tackle, and sent the ball to Fauth who found the corner to make it 16-11.

With the game nearly over Morgan Williams, who played an impish and quick-thinking game filled with quick taps and sniping runs, took a quick tap and fed his forwards near the line.  The forwards rallied round substitute prop Kevin Tkachuk and he scored -- 21-11.

"It was particularly nice to see us score our last try on a rolling maul, proving to the Uruguayans that we can be just as effective using that form of play as they are," said Canada coach David Clark after the game.

"A win is a win," he continued.  "We always looked like we were going to win the game, but we made too many errors and took too many penalties which allowed them to come into the game.  They were always dangerous with the rolling maul -- a boring way to play the game -- but we exploited them at outside centre and scored two good tries there.

"It wasn't a perfect game by any standard, but it is one that we can take hope from.  Next the United States, for which we will see some changes.  I thought Josh Jackson played well in his Test debut proving that we can take line-out ball against the opposition.  James led well and Bob Ross stood up to big men running at him all day and kicked with authority."

Canada plays the United States on Wednesday evening August 27 with its final game against the Argentina Pumas next Saturday, August 30.

The teams:

Canada:  1 Garth Cooke, 2 Pat Dunkley, 3 Rod Snow, 4 Mike James, 5 Ed Knaggs, 6 Ryan Banks (c), 7 Jim Douglas, 8 Josh Jackson, 9 Morgan Williams, 10 Bobby Ross, 11 John Cannon, 12 Marco Di Girolomo, 13 Nik Witkowski, 14 Winston Stanley, 15 James Pritchard
Reserves:  Sean Fauth, Mark Lawson, John Thiel, Kevin Tkachuk, Adam Van Staveren, Ryan Smith
Unused:  Ed Fairhurst

Uruguay:  1 Pablo Lemoine, 2 Juan Andres Perez, 3 Rodrigo Sanchez, 4 Juan Azuela, 5 Juan Carlos Bado, 6 Nicolas Brignoni, 7 Hernan Ponte, 8 Rodrigo Capo Ortega, 9 Juan Campomar, 10 Bernardo Amarillo, 11 Alfonso Cardoso, 12 Diego Aguirre (c), 13 Diego Reyes, 14 Joaquin Pastore, 15 Juan Menchaca
Reserves:  Sebastian Aguirre, Juan Alvarez, Nicolas Grille, Diego Lamelas, Marcelo Gutierrez, Emiliano Ibarra
Unused:  Guillermo Storace

Referee:  Borsani s.

Points Scorers:

Canada
Tries:  Stanley W.U. 1, Tkachuk K. 1, Fauth S. 1
Pen K.:  Ross R.P. 2

Uruguay
Tries:  Cardoso A. 1
Pen K.:  Menchaca J. 2