Listless Canada overpowered by Brazil

Brazil have beaten Canada for a second time in their history, and this time there was no last-gasp effort required. The final score at the Estádio Martins Pereira was 18-10 in favor of the home side as the Canadians failed to score a single point in a woeful second half performance.

It was a joyous opening for the men in red, as Ciaran Hearn knocked over an early penalty goal and then scored a cracking try. A giant hole on the blindside opened for the fullback and he swerved first and hit the accelerator to race clear from 50 meters. Hearn converted himself to make it an even 10-0 with only nine minutes played.

That would be the end of Canada’s input on the board.

From the start the Tupis dominated the scrum. Their heavyweight front row obliterated their opposites at every opportunity and there were many as Canada’s handling let them down repeatedly. As the scrum penalties racked up so did the points with Josh Reeves connecting on three from the tee before the break.

Canada would suffer a body blow in the 34th minute when Luke Campbell went down at the back of a scrum clutching his knee. He would be assisted off with Justin Blanchet coming on to make his test debut. The game slipped into halftime with the visitors clinging to one-point advantage.

The lead would evaporate completely within moments of the restart. Reeves hit his 4th, 5th, and 6th successful kicks in quick succession. As the Brazilian points went up on the board the Canadian shoulders went down, and with each tick of the clock the inevitable approached.

Searching for inspiration Kingsley Jones sent on uncapped halfback duo Will Percillier and Will Kelly. They would move the team into scoring position but instead of opting for three points from a resulting penalty with seven minutes to play, Canada instead opted for the corner.

Nothing would come from the lineout drive as Brazil were content to slow the ball down and when they conceded another penalty Canada again took the line. This time the counter-ruck turned over possession and soon after Reeves hammered the ball downfield to snuff out the attack.

The match ended, appropriately, with Brazil again shunting their opponents backwards in the scrum. Kelly had no option but to kick from his in-goal and Lucas Tranquez was there to to gather it, heaving the ball into the stands to bring a close to proceedings.

Os Tupis are now two from two against Canada on home soil, and will look forward to testing themselves against a wounded Eagles side in two weeks’ time. Canada trudge back to headquarters in Langford where they will try to salvage at least one Americas Rugby Championship result against Chile on February 22

 

SCORING

BRAZIL 18
Pens – J. Reeves 6/8 (12’, 19’, 36’, 43’, 47’, 54’)

CANADA 10
Tries – C. Hearn (8’)
Cons – C. Hearn 1/1 (9’)
Pens – C. Hearn 1/3 (3’)

 

TEAMS

BRAZIL
1 Lucas Abud, 2 Wilton Rebolo, 3 Jardel Vettorato (18 Pedro Bengaló 74’), 4 Gabriel Paganini, 5 Luiz Vieira, 6 Cléber Dias, 7 Arthur Bergo, 8 André Arruda, 9 Lucas Duque, 10 Josh Reeves, 11 Robert Tenório (22 Lorenzo Massari 78′), 12 Moisés Duque, 13 Felipe Sancery (capt.), 14 Lucas Tranquez, 15 Daniel Sancery

Not used: 16 Walter Schildberg, 17 Caíque Silva, 19 Michael Moraes, 20 Alexandre Alves, 21 Douglas Rauth, 23 Ariel Rodrigues

CANADA
1 Djustice Sears-Duru (16 Noah Barker 58’), 2 Eric Howard (17 Ryan Kotlewski 79’), 3 Matt Tierney (18 Cole Keith), 4 Conor Keys, 5 Josh Larsen (21 Nakai Penny 74’), 6 Kyle Baillie, 7 Lucas Rumball (capt.) (20 Guiseppe du Toit 74’), 8 Luke Campbell (19 Justin Blanchet 34’), 9 Jamie Mackenzie (22 Will Percillier 66’), 10 Patrick Parfrey (23 Will Kelly 72’), 11 Kainoa Lloyd, 12 Nick Blevins, 13 Ben LeSage, 14 Andrew Coe, 15 Ciaran Hearn

 

MATCH OFFICIALS

Referee: Frank Méndez (FERUCHI)
Assistants: Victor Hugo Barbosa (CBRu) & Braz Magaldi (CBRu)
TMO: Diego Pazman (UAR)