Glasgow smash Canada in Stirling

It was one-way traffic on Tuesday as Glasgow Warriors handed Canada ‘A’ a brutal beating, scoring nine unanswered tries to make the final score 63-0. A view periods of sustained possession in the first half were the most Canadian fans could celebrate, but finding the paint proved too difficult against a young Warriors side determined to impress the coaching staff.

Fijian international Nemia Kenatale went over just five minutes after kickoff after a line break from Junior Bulumakau put Glasgow in scoring position. Hagen Schulte made the easy conversion to make it seven. Unfortunately for Kenatale it was his last act of the day as a blood injury turned into a permanent substitution with George Horne playing scrumhalf for the remainder of the match.

Horne’s introduction did nothing to slow the Glasgow attack. Nick Grigg crossed for the second try just a few minutes later, the Scotland 7s rep breaking the line and stepping past Jordan Wilson-Ross to score. Hooker James Malcolm was next on the back of a driving maul.

Canada finally found some headway and controlled field position for several minutes, but not without a loose pass nearly falling in to the hands of Bulumakau, only for the winger to knock on with only air between him and a certain try. The Canadian continued to press and won a scrum just 10 metres out from the Glasgow line, but the Warriors won a turnover and immediately turned defense into attack.

With a scrum deep in Canadian territory Glasgow looked certain to score but another knock-on handed the ball back to Canada. As they attempted to play out of their end Bulumakau went for another steal and this time held on, just snagged by the desperate defense short of the line. The Warriors continued their assault and Horne caught the defense unawares with a quick tap penalty to cross himself and bring up the half-time whistle with the score 28-0.

The second half proved even more arduous for the Canadians. With their stamina waning the Glasgow attack was relentless, firing in five tries – all converted – and owning possession and territory for virtually the entirety of the half. The disheartening site of Djustice Sears-Duru sent reeling backwards in a tackle was followed by a try to Matt Fagerson from a scrum won against the head.

Sears-Duru and hometown favorite Gordon McRorie would leave the field to rousing ovations and could only wish for the clock to tick over a little faster. Cameron Fenton, Josh Henderson, and Patrick Kelly all touched down before Horne finished off proceedings with his second try of the game, with his conversion giving him a final tally of 18 points after taking over the kicking duties from Schulte.

It certainly wasn’t the way coach Mark Anscombe would have envisioned the UK tour coming to a close, but he will at least have seen first hand which players might be up for the jump to test rugby, and which have now reached their zenith in Canadian colors. Based on today’s score there might be a few more of the latter than the former.

GLASGOW 63
Tries – N. Kenatale (5), N. Grigg (10), J. Malcolm (15), G. Horne 2 (40, 80), M. Fagerson (48), C. Fenton (65), J. Henderson (69), P. Kelly (75)
Cons – H. Schulte 5 (6, 11, 16, 40, 49), G. Horne 4 (66, 70, 76, 80)

CANADA 0

GLASGOW WARRIORS
1 Alex Allan 2 James Malcolm 3 D’Arcy Rae 4 Sam Thomson 5 Greg Peterson 6 Callum Hunter-Hill 7 Matt Fagerson 8 Peter McCallum 9 Nemia Kenatale 10 Hagen Schulte 11 Lee Jones 12 Fraser Lyle 13 Nick Grigg 14 Junior Bulumakau 15 Peter Murchie (capt.)

16 Cameron Fenton 17 Jamie Bhatti 18 Jarrod Firth 19 Kiran MacDonald 20 George Horne 21 Josh Henderson 22 Rory Hughes 23 Patrick Kelly 24 Robert Beattie 25 Alex Taylor

CANADA ‘A’
1 Djustice Sears-Duru 2 Eric Howard 3 Ryan Kotlewski 4 Conor Keys 5 Kyle Baillie 6 Admir Cejvanovic 7 Nanyak Dala 8 Travis Larsen 9 Gordon McRorie (capt.) 10 Robbie Povey 11 Dan Moor 12 Patrick Parfrey 13 Mozac Samson 14 Kainoa Lloyd 15 Jordan Wilson-Ross

16 Alex Mascott 17 Anthony Luca 18 Cody McClary 19 Adrian Wadden 20 Matt Heaton 21 Dan Joyce 22 Aidan McMullan 23 Guiseppe du Toit 24 Sam Hayward 25 Doug Fraser

Attendance: 1719