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England Counties have departed Canada with three wins out of three, and all in convincing fashion. The final tally reads a sobering 181 points for, 10 against. It makes for dreadful reading considering these were supposed to be the best regional sides from the Canadian Rugby Championship, but in truth they were in name only. The unfortunate timing of the tour meant that the majority of Canada’s best players were tied up with national duty, and each side was absent key players for various reasons.
As such the tour will have been enjoyable for Counties but far less productive than it could, or should, have been. Perhaps a match against Canada ‘A’ could have been arranged, or a CRC Select XV. While its intentions were good, the results were undesirable and of questionable relevance given the disparity in class. There is little to be gained by analysing the results in the context of this year’s CRC as each team will be vastly different come July. Below is a brief summary of each game.
BC BEARS vs ENGLAND COUNTIES
Friday, June 3, Klahanie Park
A completely dominant Counties side got their tour off to a roaring start as they nilled the Bears in a lopsided 41-0 match. The 27-0 halftime scoreline told the story – the Bears were never in it. They opened their account with embarrassing ease as Chris May charged down a poor clearance attempt to score in the corner less than a minute past the referee’s whistle. Counties manhandled the Bears in the scrum and blasted through tackles at will. It was not the start BC head coach Gabriel Fulcher would have wanted.
To their credit the Bears were better in the second half, but only insofar as they slowed the tide, there was no stopping it altogether. The scrum was markedly better in the second stanza and if there was a bright spot it may well have been the efforts of teenage no8 Taitusi Vikilani, who was a willing carrier all evening. On the whole BC have much work to do ahead of the CRC opener against the Wolf Pack on July 2.
BC BEARS 0
ENGLAND COUNTIES 41
Tries – C. May 2, L. Fielding, S. Winter, D. Williams
Cons – F. Gabbitass 2, M. Shepherd 3
Pens – F. Gabbitass 2
BC BEARS
1 Anthony Luca (capt.) 2 Micha Govorchin 3 Ryan Ackerman 4 Sam Clark 5 Liam Chisholm 6 Brendan Kelliher 7 Alex Boyd 8 Taitusi Vikilani 9 Chris Robinson 10 James Reekie 11 Cully Quirke 12 Doug Fraser 13 Joe Dolesau 14 Crosby Stewart 15 Gareth Marsden
16 Andrew Lackner 17 Ryan March 18 AN Other 19 Ollie Nott 20 Lee Helm 21 Cody Rockson 22 Geoff Ryan 23 Chris Chalmers
ENGLAND COUNTIES
1 Trevor Davison 2 Matt Cornish 3 Elliot Millar-Mills 4 Dan Williams 5 Rob Conquest 6 Keith Laughlin (capt.) 7 Nyle Davidson 8 Ryan Parkinson 9 Tom Banks 10 Freddie Gabbitass 11 Leo Fielding 12 Chris May 13 Sam Winter 14 Nigel Baker 15 Matt Shepherd
16 Dan Seal 17 Matt Miles 18 Tom Cowan-Dickie 19 Ian Kench 20 David Fairbrother 21 Jack Walsh 22 James Stokes 23 Joseph Tarrant
with files from Brendan Munro and BC Rugby
PRAIRIE WOLF PACK vs ENGLAND COUNTIES
Tuesday, June 7, Calgary Rugby Park
The second match was slightly different from the first in that the first half was competitive, and until around the 45th minute the Wolf Pack were within one score. Counties had chipped away with 17 points up before a late rally saw Nick McAuley score a memorable try just before the break. Jake Robinson got on the board next to make it 17-10 but that was the end of any Wolf Pack participation.
The floodgates opened and Counties romped the rest of the way with 50 unanswered points to make it an ugly 67-10 final score. There was no doubt at the final whistle of the vast gulf in fitness and experience. Despite the second half battering the Pack will take some positives out of the first half and hopefully build towards the start of the regular season.
PRAIRIE WOLF PACK 10
Tries – N. McAuley, J. Robinson
Yellow cards – W. Hodgen
ENGLAND COUNTIES 67
Tries – H. Bate 3, D. Williams, D. Seal, S. Baker, L. Fielding 2, J. Stokes, AN Other
Cons – L. Fielding 7
Pens – L. Fielding
PRAIRIE WOLF PACK
1 Peter Houlihan 2 Clayton Thornber 3 Nick McAuley 4 Conor Turner 5 Connor Sorenson 6 John Anderson 7 Wayde Hodgen 8 Clay Panga (capt.) 9 Jake Robinson 10 Brandon Harrison 11 Aaron Evison 12 Adam Bontus 13 Conor Desmond 14 Ian Shoults 15 Liam O’Hallahan
16 Matt Harrison 17 John Braddock 18 Luc Leplante 19 Connor Gilbert 20 Orrin Farries 21 Jake Bentley 22 Dustin MacPherson 23 Cam Hall
ENGLAND COUNTIES
1 Dan Seal 2 Tom Cowan-Dickie 3 Craig Williams 4 Dan Williams 5 Ian Kench 6 Keith Laughlin (capt.) 7 Harry Bate 8 David Fairbrother 9 Jack Walsh 10 Joseph Tarrant 11 Sam Baker 12 Seb Rodwell 13 Leo Fielding 14 James Stokes 15 Mike Wilcox
16 Matt Miles 17 Trevor Davison 18 Elliot Millar-Mills 19 Rob Conquest 20 Ryan Parkinson 21 Tom Banks 22 Chris May 23 Freddie Gabbitass
ONTARIO BLUES vs ENGLAND COUNTIES
Saturday, June 11, Fletcher’s Fields
Counties saved their best for last as they wrapped up their tour with a 73-0 mauling of the Blues in Toronto. Ontario were clearly outclassed and not unexpectedly so given the absence of nearly their entire starting lineup, largely due to national call-ups. A number of players were up against the toughest competition of their careers – and by a large distance.
The Blues had virtually no say in the result and the consolation will be that a number of young players were exposed to a high standard of rugby. Hopefully some of those players lift their own expectations of themselves moving forward. Ontario will continue their season against the Rock in St. John’s on July 2.
ONTARIO BLUES 0
ENGLAND COUNTIES 73
Tries – J. Walsh 2, D. Williams 2, S. Winter 2, S. Baker, T. Cowan-Dickie, L. Fielding, M. Wilcox, C. Williams
Cons – M. Shepherd 5, F. Gabbitass 4
ONTARIO BLUES
1 Brendan Blaikie 2 AJ Quattrin 3 Rob Brouwer 4 Hank McQueen (capt.) 5 Mike Sheppard 6 Marcello Wainwright 7 Peter Milazzo 8 Jeremy Wright 9 Josh Campbell 10 Mitch Richardson 11 Brandon McLeod 12 Rich Lebel 13 John Sheridan 14 Hayden Ryan 15 Mark Denton
16 Chris Gladney 17 JT Rowbotham 18 Creag Johnston 19 Brandon Black 20 Karl Schroeder 21 Chad Strapp 22 Jason Hubbell 23 Kainoa Lloyd
ENGLAND COUNTIES
1 Trevor Davison 2 Matt Miles 3 Craig Williams 4 Dan Williams 5 Ian Kench 6 Keith Laughlin (capt.) 7 Kyle Davidson 8 David Fairbrother 9 Matt Shepherd 10 Joe Tarrant 11 Leo Fielding 12 Seb Rodwell 13 Sam Winter 14 James Stokes 15 Mike Wilcox
16 Dan Seal 17 Matt Cornish 18 Tom Cowan-Dickie 19 Rob Conquest 20 Ryan Parkinson 21 Freddie Gabbitass 22 Jack Walsh 23 Sam Baker
with files from Brock Smith and Rugby Ontario
