Canada and USA scrap to draw in Hamilton

It’s even stevens after the opening match of the Americas 1 World Cup qualifiers as Canada and the USA scrapped to a 28-all finish in Hamilton on Saturday. It was an exciting match that left fans on the edge as the scores swung back and forth. For the coaches and the players themselves, however, there will be much to improve on with numerous errors contributing to scores on both sides of the pitch.

Despite an early miss on a penalty shot from Shane O’Leary, Canada got the start they were hoping for when quick hands put Andrew Coe in space down the right flank. The winger found DTH van der Merwe back on his inside for the opening score. The response could not have come quicker, however, as Canada made a hash of the restart and instead it was Marcel Brache who gathered and nearly went clean through. Moments later Nick Civetta was on the spot to reach over the line and make it one converted try apiece.

A second score from van der Merwe was next as the outstanding player on the pitch caught the USA defense napping. With no opposition at the breakdown and no ruck formed he plucked the ball from the deck and raced almost 50 meters to the corner for a superb individual effort, in doing so overtaking Winston Stanley to become Canada’s all-time leading try scorer.

O’Leary made good on a penalty goal that gave Canada a solid eight-point lead until disaster struck twice in the span of five minutes. The Eagles turned down an easy three points to instead kick for the corner and the decision paid off, with the Canadian maul defense disintegrating and allowing Civetta over for his second try of the half.

With Canada pressing for a reply Cam Dolan picked from a defensive scrum inside his own 22 and made great headway to set up quick ball for his backs. AJ MacGinty spotted Mike Te’o in space on the wing and his kick-pass found its target. Two phases later Te’o was again open, and this time with the line at his mercy he was in to strike a heavy blow before the break.

Canada caught a break early in the second half when James Hilterbrand was shown yellow for a lazy high tackle that looked no more than a penalty at worse. O’Leary made good on the kick, but as they had the week before Canada couldn’t make the man advantage count. Just when it looked like they might, an errant pass from O’Leary instead found Te’o and the winger raced 95 meters untouched to make it a 10-point game heading into the final quarter.

A bad sequence from a lineout very nearly cost the Eagles dearly as Canada moved the ball to the wing and for all money it looked like Andrew Coe was in. The grounding, however, looked suspect and the replays confirmed that the ball had escaped the youngster’s hand at the decisive moment and the end result was instead a knock-on.

Poor discipline caught up to the Eagles when they were handed a second yellow card, this one to Dolan for collapsing a maul close to the line. This time Canada got what they wanted, stretching the defense and just before the No 8 returned to the field it was the veteran Aaron Carpenter who found his way over in the corner. O’Leary judged the sideline conversion to perfection to make it a one score game, and then added a late penalty to level the scores.

MacGinty tried to knock over a drop goal in the final minute but pulled it left, and from the restart Canada worked their way back into kicking range and were rewarded with a last-gasp shot for O’Leary. The kick was agonisingly close but appeared to sail straight over the upright and was ruled no good.

The two sides now depart to San Diego for what becomes a one-off qualifier on July 1.

 

SCORING

CANADA 28
Tries – D. van der Merwe 2 (7’, 17’), A. Carpenter (69’)
Cons – S. O’Leary 2/3 (8’, 70’)
Pens – S. O’Leary 3/5 (26’, 45’, 78’)

USA 28
Tries – N. Civetta 2 (9’, 35’), M. Te’o 2 (39’, 52’)
Cons – A. MacGinty 4/4 (10’, 36’, 40’, 53’)
Drop goals – A. MacGinty 0/1
Yellow cards – J. Hilterbrand (44’), C. Dolan (58’)

 

TEAMS

CANADA
1 Djustice Sears-Duru (17 Anthony Luca 76’), 2 Ray Barkwill (16 Benoît Pifféro 56’-62’), 3 Jake Ilnicki (18 Matt Tierney 60’), 4 Brett Beukeboom (co-capt.), 5 Evan Olmstead, 6 Admir Cejvanovic (20 Aaron Carpenter 56’), 7 Matt Heaton, 8 Tyler Ardron, 9 Phil Mack (21 Gordon McRorie 60’), 10 Shane O’Leary, 11 Taylor Paris, 12 Connor Braid (22 Nick Blevins 60’), 13 DTH van der Merwe (co-capt.) (22 Nick Blevins 18’-22’), 14 Andrew Coe, 15 Ciaran Hearn

Not used: 19 Kyle Baillie, 23 Dan Moor

USA
1 Anthony Purpura (17 Ben Tarr 53’), 2 James Hilterbrand (16 Peter Malcolm 55’), 3 Paddy Ryan (18 Dino Waldren 53’), 4 Ben Landry (20 David Tameilau 50’), 5 Nick Civetta (19 Matt Jensen 61’), 6 Todd Clever (capt.) (21 Andrew Durutalo 23’-29’), 7 John Quill (21 Andrew Durutalo 50’), 8 Cam Dolan, 9 Nate Augspurger, 10 AJ MacGinty, 11 Matai Leuta, 12 Marcel Brache, 13 Bryce Campbell, 14 Mike Te’o, 15 Ben Cima (16 Peter Malcolm 50’-55’) (22 Shaun Davies 55’)

Not used: 23 Will Magie

 

MATCH OFFICIALS

Referee: Ben Whitehouse (WRU)
Assistants: Andrew Brace (IRFU) & Shuhei Kubo (JRFU)
TMO: Sean Davey (RFU)

Attendance: 13,187