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Canada came up on the short end of yet another close contest as they fell to Italy 20-18 in front of more than 13,000 passionate fans at BMO Field in Toronto. Despite near-perfect conditions, slight breeze aside, running rugby was a rarity with both teams more content to play conservatively and keep the ball largely among the forwards.
The first half ended level with neither quite able to assert their dominance. Tommaso Allan and Gordon McRorie exchanged to penalties apiece with discipline around both the breakdown and offside line proving a challenge for a number of players.
Ciaran Hearn spiced things up a little with tip-tackle that earned him a seat for 10 minutes, but the Azzurri were unable to take advantage of the extra man. Instead Canada defended well and McRorie gave them a short lead when the opportunity came, though Allan erased it almost instantaneously. A long-range drop goal attempt didn’t quite connect for McRorie just before the break.
The second half was much the same. Canada worked their way into scoring position and took their kicks at goal, but Italy responded. A rolling maul was the best avenue of success for the Italians and at last it worked to perfection as Ornel Gega worked his way over from the back. Allan couldn’t convert but it gave the Azzurri a slender two-point lead heading into the final quarter.
Canada regained possession from the restart and launched a determined attack. Despite throwing all their forward might they were stopped just short and had to be content with a penalty kick from in front of the posts. It gave them the lead, but only a precarious one. Replacement flyhalf Carlo Canna made it advantage Italy once again with his first goal a few minutes later.
A moment of confusion came in the final minutes when it seemed David Odiete had crossed for a decisive score, but the replay showed that Guglielmo Palazzani had knocked on in the act of clearing the ball from the ruck so the try was disallowed. Canada could not regain possession, however, and with Canna in the bin for a dangerous tackle Italy kept the ball tight and ground down the clock with their forwards.
The result will be disappointing to the Canadians, who were always in the game and had a real chance to get the win they so desperately wanted. Poor discipline at key moments and below-par performance at the set piece cost them dearly. Italy were not particularly impressive but their forwards got the job done in the end. Both teams will now look to build for their November test series, with Canada also set to take a development side on tour to Ireland and the UK in August.
CANADA 18
Pens – G. McRorie 6 (12, 23, 32, 47, 54, 66)
Yellow cards – C. Hearn (26)
ITALY 20
Tries – O. Gega (59)
Pens – T. Allan 4 (8, 15, 34, 50), C. Canna (72)
Yellow cards – C. Canna (75)
CANADA
1 Djustice Sears-Duru (Tom Dolezel 62-76) 2 Ray Barkwill (Eric Howard 69) 3 Jake Ilnicki 4 Jamie Cudmore (capt.) (Paul Ciulini 60) 5 Evan Olmstead (Paul Ciulini 50-60) 6 Kyle Baillie (Matt Heaton 69) 7 Lucas Rumball 8 Aaron Carpenter 9 Gordon McRorie 10 Patrick Parfrey (Liam Underwood 59) 11 Taylor Paris 12 Nick Blevins 13 Ciaran Hearn 14 Dan Moor 15 Matt Evans
Not used: Matt Tierney, Jamie Mackenzie, Brock Staller
ITALY
1 Andrea Lovotti (Sami Panico 54) 2 Ornel Gega (Tommaso D’Apice (73) 3 Lorenzo Cittadini (Pietro Ceccarelli 54) 4 Quintin Geldenhuys 5 Marco Fuser 6 Maxime Mbandà (Sebastian Negri 63) 7 Simone Favaro 8 Dries van Schalkwyk 9 Edoardo Gori (capt.) (Guglielmo Palazzani 60) 10 Tommaso Allan (Carlo Canna 60) 11 Giovanbattista Venditti 12 Tommaso Boni 13 Michele Campagnaro 14 Angelo Esposito 15 Davide Odiete
Not used: Jacopo Sarto, Giulio Bisegni
Referee: Alexandre Ruiz (FFR)
Assistants: Shuheo Kubo (JRFU) & Kurt Weaver (USAR)
TMO: Dave Ardrey (USAR)
Attendance: 13, 125
