Hard days ahead for Canada

Don’t blame the referee. It’s petulant and ignores the real problems. Yes, the wild right hand of Elvis Taione was missed, and particular blame has to lie with the assistant on that side of the field, but worse things have happened. As for Liam Underwood’s card, cries of foul are completely unwarranted. In the modern game it doesn’t matter that you can’t get out, it matters that you’re in the way, period. If Canada had been knocking on the door and Kurt Morath ended up on the wrong side to kill the ball, those same people would have been screaming bloody murder.

None of the above is important.

If Canadian fans want to look for culprits, look at the set piece. Take note of the maul defense, and the abject fragility on the blindside. Underwood was on the pitch when Otulea Katoa made Jeff Hassler look silly. There was nothing nefarious about Steve Mafi tearing through Aaron Carpenter who was half asleep at the wheel. If a yellow card is all it takes to throw off an international rugby team, we’ve got even bigger problems than that.

The really frustrating bit was that the team started so well. They soaked up the intensity of the Sipi Tau and threw it right back in their faces. For 11 minutes they looked like a completely different team, and even though Underwood’s non-pass to Carpenter was certainly forward, it was a positive move and felt like just rewards. Then it all went sour.

Canada had changed up their attack to start. Instead of the one-off static runners that went nowhere against Japan, it was pick and drive from the tight forwards to get moving, and it was working. Shortly after the second try, for some reason Gordon McRorie passed to a stagnant Hubert Buydens, and just as the game before, he was stuffed. It brought the big Tongan forwards into the game and put Canada immediately on the back foot. It was a baffling decision.

Once woken up, the Ikale Tahi scrum went to work, slowing the game down and bludgeoning the Canadian pack into submission. The scrum was a disaster. Andrew Tiedemann was blasted in the first half, and that Doug Wooldridge fared only marginally better suggests the problem is rooted in the unit rather than the individual. Kieran Crowley recently suggested that the scrum was an isolated issue, really only struggling against Romania. It was a bizarre statement. Anyone who has followed Canadian rugby over the past couple years would know better.

Those who think the scrum is only a minor part of the game have not played behind a retreating pack. You don’t need to be dominant, but you must be solid enough to win your own ball. It’s a major concern now and both specialist coach Mike Shelley and forwards coach Neil Barnes have their work cut out for them. There is no horn to call in the cavalry. Of course it would be nice to have Jamie Cudmore and Jebb Sinclair, but neither will be fit to play every game when they do return. Solutions need to be found with the players present now.

Coach Crowley now has some tough decisions to make. Confidence will not be sky high within the camp, to put it lightly. Samoa are next on Wednesday, and it’s only four days off before the final on Monday. Buydens has already shouldered a heavy load in the trenches, as have Brett Beukeboom, Richard Thorpe, and Tyler Ardron. These players can’t be beaten into the dirt. Selections will be critical, and the team will do well to escape with one win from the tournament.

It’s not exactly painting a rosy portrait, but at least there’s a three week break ahead of the test in Ottawa to rest and regroup. Unless you’re a prop. Or a hooker. Or a lock. Those poor souls have many long hours of grueling work with the cold steel of the scrum machine to look forward to. Nobody said this was going to be all smiles and chocolates.