USA rout Canada, earn World Cup spot

The Eagles have made history. For the first time they have qualified for the Rugby World Cup as the ‘Americas 1′ representative after putting the sword to Canada in San Diego by a score of 52-16. Aside from a brief purple patch for Canada immediately before and after half-time it was as comprehensive a victory as one could hope to find. Eight tries in all to only one for the Canadians told the story as record-setting captain Todd Clever got the send-off he was hoping for in his final test match.

Things could not have gone worse in the build-up to the game for Canada as they lost their two most potent attacking players in Taylor Paris and DTH van der Merwe just two hours before kickoff, to illness and injury respectively. Dan Moor and Nick Blevins stepped into the starting lineup but the dip in confidence from the absence of the two stars was palpable.

It went from bad to worse after a nightmarish opening that saw Canada make a hash of the opening exit and spent the entirety of the first quarter entrenched in their own end. Conceding points was inevitable and Cam Dolan was the chief culprit, touching down twice and creating a third score to give the Eagles a commanding 19-3 lead in only the 21st minute.

The first try was a dazzling score that was instigated by an AJ MacGinty break and a brilliant over-the-shoulder offload from Ryan Matyas, with Dolan on hand to take the final pass from Bryce Campbell. A Nick Civetta turnover opened the doors for Dolan to race in for his second, and the Florida native made it three for the Eagles as he tore through at a lineout and popped off the deck to Nate Brakeley in full stride.

A lull in play allowed Gordon McRorie to squeezed over three penalty goals before the break with repeat team infringements landing Tony Lamborn in the bin at the 40 minute mark. With a glimmer of hope visible and a man advantage the Canadians came out firing in the second half and Dan Moor blasted through a tackle to put Admir Cejvanovic into the corner, with McRorie’s conversion somehow making it a three-point game.

That would be the last say for the men in red as the Eagles brought in their heavyweight subs and their impact was telling. The rolling maul proved unstoppable as Joe Taufete’e touched down twice within 10 minutes of his entrance, the second after Tyler Ardron was sent to the bin for collapsing another American advance. With one less forward the collapse was imminent.

From the restart it was another highlight-reel score for the Eagles with Nate Augspurger finishing off a 75 meter counter-attack. Further tries would come to Dino Waldren and David Tameilau as the Eagles heaped misery onto their northern neighbors whose Canada Day 150 celebrations were doused with despair.

The Canadians must now console themselves and regroup for the November tests and their next avenue for qualification against Uruguay in late January. Meanwhile the USA bid adieu to talisman Clever and head coach John Mitchell, with their preparations for Japan to start in earnest in the weeks ahead. The July 4 celebrations may start early in San Diego.

 

SCORING

USA 52
Tries – C. Dolan 2 (9’, 15’), N. Brakeley (21’), J. Taufete’e 2 (54’, 61’), N. Augspurger (63’), D. Waldren (67’), D. Tameilau (78’)
Cons – A. MacGinty 6/7 (16’, 22’, 55’, 62’, 64’, 68’)
Yellow cards – T. Lamborn (40’)

CANADA 16
Tries – A. Cejvanovic (41’)
Cons – G. McRorie 1/1 (42’)
Pens – G. McRorie 3/3 (19’, 32’, 40’)
Yellow cards – T. Ardron (60′)

 

TEAMS

USA
1 Anthony Purpura (17 Ben Tarr HT), 2 James Hilterbrand (16 Joe Taufete’e 51’), 3 Chris Baumann (18 Dino Waldren 18’), 4 Nate Brakeley (21 Andrew Durutalo 55’), 5 Nick Civetta (19 David Tameilau 53’), 6 Todd Clever (capt.) (20 John Quill 62’-68’), 7 Tony Lamborn (20 John Quill 68’), 8 Cam Dolan, 9 Nate Augspurger, 10 AJ MacGinty (23 Will Magie 68’), 11 Ryan Matyas, 12 Marcel Brache, 13 Bryce Campbell, 14 Mike Te’o (22 Shaun Davies 68’), 15 Madison Hughes

CANADA
1 Djustice Sears-Duru (17 Anthony Luca 68’), 2 Ray Barkwill (16 Benoît Pifféro 57’), 3 Jake Ilnicki (18 Matt Tierney 59’), 4 Brett Beukeboom (capt.), 5 Evan Olmstead, 6 Admir Cejvanovic (19 Kyle Baillie 57’), 7 Matt Heaton (20 Aaron Carpenter 57’), 8 Tyler Ardron, 9 Gordon McRorie (21 Andrew Ferguson 74’), 10 Shane O’Leary, 11 Dan Moor, 12 Connor Braid (22 Guiseppe du Toit 74’), 13 Nick Blevins, 14 Andrew Coe (23 Sean Duke 74’), 15 Ciaran Hearn

 

MATCH OFFICIALS

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