US Eagles pip Canada

The US Eagles celebrated Independence Day with a hard-fought 12-6 victory over Canada in Saturday's Rugby World Cup qualifying tie at the Blackbaud Stadium in Charleston, South Carolina.

The winner over two legs, the second of which will be played in Edmonton, Canada on 11 July, will claim the Americas 1 spot in Pool A of the 2011 Rugby World Cup in New Zealand to face the host nation as well as France, Tonga and the top Asian qualifier.

The loser moves on to face Uruguay, the winner of the South American qualification phase, in a two-match series to determine the Americas 2 qualifier in Pool C against Australia, Ireland, Italy and the Europe 2 qualifier.

In Oceania, Papua New Guinea overcame the Cook Islands in Port Moresby 29-21 to win the Oceania Cup and reach the region's qualifying final.

The PNG side now faces a daunting two-match series against relative heavyweights Samoa, who finished outside the top three in their 2007 World Cup pool meaning they had to qualify for the 2011 event.

Veteran USA fly half Mike Hercus kicked all of the USA's as the Eagles ground out a first win against Canada since 2005.

Hercus kicked one drop goal and three penalty goals in the sweltering South Carolina heat in front of a patriotic home crowd.

"The forwards played exceptionally well.  They built the platform for Hercus and he executed.  Canada is always a very tough competitor and this was a hard fought match.  But I thought these boys deserved this victory," said USA coach Eddie O'Sullivan.

"We missed a couple of opportunities, but a win is a win and I'm really happy we could get the job done at home.  Now we just need to repeat it next week."

Hercus was named man of the match, but remained modest about his own performance.

"I just happen to be the kicker, the forwards did all the hard work.  It was a tough game and they played very well.

"We only had five guys on the team, including myself, who had ever beaten Canada before and of course this is our biggest game of the year.  This is about as good as it gets," said Hercus, who was joined by Mike MacDonald, Todd Clever, Salesi Sika and Paul Emerick on the team that dealt Canada a 20-19 defeat in the 2005 Churchill Cup tournament.

Canada coach Kieran Crowley tipped his hat to the USA's effort and knows that his side will have to perform a lot better next weekend to avoid the play-off withUruguay.

"They just out-passioned us and they deserved the win," said Crowley after the match.  "That's what this series is about and today we just weren't good enough.

"They got good go-forward ball and our ball was slow.  In the first half we got sucked into their game a little bit and the pressure just kept on."

The scorers:

For the United States:
Pens:  Hercus 3
Drop:  Hercus

For Canada:
Pens:  Pritchard 2

The teams:

United States:  15 Chris Wyles, 14 Takudzwa Ngwenya, 13 Paul Emerick, 12 Roland Suniula, 11 Kevin Swiryn, 10 Mike Hercus, 9 Tim Usasz, 8 Nic Johnson, 7 Todd Clever (c), 6 Louis Stanfill, 5 Hayden Smith, 4 John Van der Giessen, 3 Shawn Pittman, 2 Chris Biller, 1 Mate Moeakiola.
Replacements:  16 Brian McClenahan, 17 Mike MacDonald, 18 Alec Parker, 19 JJ Gagiano, 20 Mike Petri, 21 Ata Malifa, 22 Alipate Tuilevuka.

Canada:  13 DTH van der Merwe, 12 Ryan Smith, 11 Justin Mensah-Coker, 10 Ander Monro, 9 Ed Fairhurst, 8 Aaron Carpenter, 7 Adam Kleeberger, 6 Jebb Sinclair, 5 Tyler Hotson, 4 Mike Burak, 3 Dan Pletch, 2 Pat Riordan, 1 Kevin Tkachuk.
Replacements:  16 Mike Pletch,17 Andrew Tiedemann, 18 Frank Walsh, 19 Stu Ault, 20 Nanyak Dala, 21 Phil Mack, 22 Ciaran Hearn.

Referee:  Alan Lewis (Ireland)