Evans leads Canada to win over Oxford

Canada’s World Cup Qualifying preparations were boosted by a win over Oxford University on Wednesday. Matt Evans made his return to a Canadian shirt after a two-year absence and made it a good one, scoring two tries with the final score reading 26-20.

With a number of professionals unavailable for the match Kingsley Jones ran out a largely reserve side. Three England-based standby players were called in to fill in the ranks – Leeds Beckett lock Adrian Wadden, Yorkshire Carnegie winger Dan Moor, and Coventry fullback Robbie Povey.

The Blues featured several players of note in their lineup. Former Harlequins lock George Robson and Newcastle Falcons midfielder Dom Waldouck have each represented England Saxons, with fullback Ben Ransom an England u20 international. USA Select XV captain Conor Kearns lined up in the midfield with Leicester Academy graduate George Tresidder at scrumhalf.

Oxford got out of the gates quickest with captain Tom Humberstone slotting a penalty goal. Evans got his first, converted by Shane O’Leary, to give Canada a brief lead. It was extinguished in double time with Jasper Dix driving over almost immediately for a seven-pointer to restore Oxford’s advantage.

Humberstone landed his second conversion but the Blues would not take the lead to the break. Instead it was Luke Campbell who found his way through, with O’Leary’s extras giving the visitors a one point lead.

Guiseppe du Toit made it a two-score game with a try in the 53rd minute, followed by a second for Evans a dozen minutes later. Canada would be forced to do plenty of defending in the final quarter and conceded a late penalty try but would hold on to secure the win.

Canada’s next order of business will be their final opportunity to fine tune ahead of the Repechage competition in Marseille. A near-full strength side is expected to run out against Coventry at Butts Park on Monday, November 5.

 

SCORING

OXFORD 20
Tries – J. Dix (17′), Penalty try (79′)
Cons – T. Humberstone 1/1 (18′)
Pens – T. Humberstone 2/2 (7′, 32′)

CANADA 26
Tries – M. Evans 2 (14′, 65′), L. Campbell (36′), G. du Toit (53′)
Cons – S. O’Leary 3/4 (15′, 37′, 54′)

 

TEAMS

OXFORD UNIVERSITY BLUES
1 Ben Parker, 2 Aaron Henry, 3 Joe Morris, 4 George Robson, 5 Jasper Dix, 6 Charlie Pozniak, 7 Sam Miller, 8 Sven Kerneis, 9 George Tresidder, 10 Tom Humberstone (capt.), 11 Ed David, 12 Conor Kearns, 13 Dan Barley, 14 Tim Stileman, 15 Ben Ransom

Replacements: 16 Josh Navarajasegaran, 17 Conor Hennessy, 18 Abhijeet Oswal, 19 Ollie Adams, 20 George Warr, 21 Sam Ridgway, 22 Dylan McGagh, 23 Louis Jackson, 24 Dom Waldouck

CANADA
1 Noah Barker, 2 Eric Howard, 3 Cole Keith, 4 Paul Ciulini, 5 Josh Larsen, 6 Mike Sheppard, 7 Lucas Rumball (capt.), 8 Luke Campbell, 9 Gordon McRorie, 10 Shane O’Leary, 11 Dan Moor, 12 Nick Blevins, 13 Doug Fraser, 14 Matt Evans, 15 Robbie Povey

Replacements: 16 Ray Barkwill, 17 Hubert Buydens, 18 Jake Ilnicki, 19 Adrian Wadden, 20 Matt Heaton, 21 Phil Mack, 22 Kainoa Lloyd, 23 Theo Sauder, 24 Guiseppe du Toit