Eagles overpower Canada in Halifax

A passionate crowd of more than 6,000 at the Wanderers Grounds in Halifax did what they could to inspire Canada, but ultimately the men in fell by a convincing score of 42-17 to the USA on Saturday afternoon. The Canadians simply could not match the power of the Eagles ball carriers, with Paul Lasike and Samu Manoa using brute force to smash over defenders throughout.

An early feeling-out process saw first points going to Canada via Shane O’Leary. It would be a long time between drinks, however, as the high-powered Eagles offense churned into motion. Cam Dolan was on the end of an attacking move to dive into the corner for a try and then AJ MacGinty added a conversion.

A second try came before the break through Nate Augspurger, again on the end of several phases that left gaping overlaps out wide. Canada nearly got one back but a knock-on just a couple meters short of the line snuffed out a promising assault on the stroke of halftime.

The weight of repeated tackles was beginning to take its toll on the Canadians, with Evan Olmstead and Lucas Rumball throwing their bodies around with reckless abandon. Cracks opened again out wide for Dolan to cross in a near identical score to his earlier try.

Canada responded through Olmstead after a driving maul put them in scoring position. That seemed to spur on his team momentarily and revived the crowd somewhat, but it was short-lived respite. MacGinty hit back with a penalty and then Dolan got his hat trick, this time from in close.

Three late scores altered the line but were academic in utility. Blaine Scully went through on a huge miss-out ball from MacGinty, which was immediately countered by a Jeff Hassler run up the middle on a set move. Just as quickly the Eagles were away again with Ruben de Haas supporting well to take an offload in for the final score of the game.

With that the Eagles stretch their record in 2018 to a perfect 8-0. They will next reconvene for their November tour that begins against the New Zealand Māori in Chicago on November 3. Canada cast their gaze towards the World Cup Qualifiers in France at the same time, with the Americas Pacific Challenge in October the last opportunity to fine tune ahead of the Repechage series.

 

SCORING

CANADA 17
Tries – E. Olmstead (52′), J. Hassler (76′)
Cons – S. O’Leary 2/2 (53′, 77′)
Pens – S. O’Leary 1/1 (17′)

USA 42
Tries – C. Dolan 3 (22′, 46′, 69′), N. Ausgpurger (35′), B. Scully (73′), R. de Haas (79′)
Cons – A. MacGinty 3/6 (47′, 74′, 80′)
Pens – A. MacGinty 2/2 (29′, 57′)

 

TEAMS

CANADA
1 Djustice Sears-Duru (17 Noah Barker 70′), 2 Ray Barkwill (16 Eric Howard 70′), 3 Jake Ilnicki, 4 Josh Larsen (19 Paul Ciulini 70′), 5 Evan Olmstead, 6 Lucas Rumball (capt.), 7 Matt Heaton (20 Dustin Dobravsky 70′), 8 Luke Campbell, 9 Phil Mack, 10 Shane O’Leary, 11 Kainoa Lloyd, 12 Nick Blevins, 13 Ben LeSage, 14 Jeff Hassler, 15 Patrick Parfrey

Not used: 18 Ryan Kotlewski, 21 Jorden Sandover-Best, 22 Guiseppe du Toit, 23 Theo Sauder

USA
1 Eric Fry (17 Titi Lamositele 70′), 2 Dylan Fawsitt (18 Olive Kilifi 73′), 3 Paul Mullen (16 Chris Baumann 70′), 4 Samu Manoa (19 Greg Peterson 63′), 5 Nick Civetta, 6 Ben Landry (20 Vili Toluta’u 63′), 7 Hanco Germishuys, 8 Cam Dolan, 9 Shaun Davies (21 Ruben de Haas 73′), 10 AJ MacGinty, 11 Nate Augspurger, 12 Paul Lasike (23 Bryce Campbell 63′), 13 Marcel Brache, 14 Blaine Scully (capt.), 15 Will Hooley (22 Will Magie 73′)

 

MATCH OFFICIALS

Referee: Alex Ruiz (FFR)
Assistants: Wayne Barnes (RFU) & Federico Anselmi (UAR)
TMO: Andrew Hosie (RC)

 

Attendance: 6,213