Canada drop tour opener to Doncaster

Canada ‘A’ suffered a narrow 20-16 defeat to Doncaster Knights in the first match of their tour to the United Kingdom on Saturday afternoon. Wet conditions made for a tight and physical affair, with late scores from both sides in driving rain leaving the result in doubt until the final whistle.

The visitors suffered a heavy blow early as flanker Ollie Nott was stretchered off the pitch after a collision, replaced by Matt Heaton in only the second minute of the match. Perhaps still smarting from the loss, Doncaster stretched the defense from a lineout and a Simon Humberstone chip kick found space for Tyson Lewis to run onto for the opening score.

Gordon McRorie was successful on his first of three penalty goals after Canada repelled a confident Doncaster attack. Admir Cejvanovic intercepted a pass following the restart and looked to have Jordan Wilson-Ross in support but the cover defense was there to deny the score.

A cheeky set piece move caught the Canadians napping on the short side for the second Doncaster try. From an attacking lineout just inside the 22-metre line the ball went off the top to an unmarked Ben Hunter and the hooker ran clear to the end zone for a score. McRorie again replied with a penalty to make it a four point gap at the break.

Changes during and shortly after half time slowed the game somewhat and neither side could quite get on the score sheet. A strong tackle on Dan Moor caused the winger to spill the ball short in Doncaster territory, and big Joe Sproston was held up in-goal by equally determined Canadian resistance.

Too many team infringements cost Pat Parfrey a spell in the sin bin but instead it was Canada who scored next through the boot of skipper McRorie. The Knights struck back almost immediately through their dominant scrum, with Declan Cusack taking full advantage of the penalty earned.

The rain picked up and made handling difficult, leaving a loose ball for Ed Falkingham to thump downfield and it was the galloping Glen Young who won he race for the touchdown, with Cusack’s conversion making it an 11 point lead. Lucas Albornoz landed a try as the pack pounded away on the Doncaster line but even with Robbie Povey’s extras the game was out of reach.

Next stop on the tour is Northern Ireland, where Canada travel to Ravenhill for a match with Ulster Ravens on Friday, August 26. Kickoff is set for 5:15pm local, 12:15pm Eastern, 9:15am Pacific.

DONCASTER 20
Tries – T. Lewis (6), B. Hunter (26), G. Young (73)
Cons – D. Cusack (74)
Pens – D. Cusack (68)

CANADA ‘A’ 16
Tries – L. Albornoz (76)
Cons – R. Povey (77)
Pens – G. McRorie 3 (14, 32, 65)
Yellow cards – P. Parfrey (62)

DONCASTER KNIGHTS
1 Richard List (capt.) 2 Ben Hunter 3 WillGriff John 4 Glen Young 5 David Nolan 6 Latu Maka’afi 7 Will Owen 8 Jarad Williams 9 Michael Heaney 10 Simon Humberstone 11 Tyson Lewis 12 James Fitzpatrick 13 Mat Clark 14 Dougie Flockhart 15 Paul Jarvis

Reserves: Harry Allen, David Nelson, Robin Hislop, Joe Sproston, Ed Falkingham, Matt Challinor, Alex Shaw, Sam Edgerley, Declan Cusack, Charlie Thacker, Lloyd Hayes, Sean Scanlon

CANADA ‘A’
1 Anthony Luca 2 Eric Howard 3 Ryan Kotlewski 4 Adrian Wadden 5 Kyle Baillie 6 Nanyak Dala 7 Ollie Nott 8 Admir Cejvanovic 9 Gordon McRorie (capt.) 10 Patrick Parfrey 11 Dan Moor 12 Doug Fraser 13 Mozac Samson 14 Jordan Wilson-Ross 15 Aidan McMullan

Reserves: Alex Mascott, Peter Houlihan, Cody McClary, Conor Keys, Lucas Albornoz, Matt Heaton, Dan Joyce, Robbie Povey, Guiseppe du Toit, Sam Hayward, Kainoa Lloyd

Referee: John Meredith

Attendance: 873