Wales scorch Canada in one-sided Cardiff contest

Wales scorched to a 68-12 victory over Canada at Principality Stadium in Cardiff on Saturday afternoon. The home side outscored their hosts 10 tries to 2 and held a 40-5 lead at halftime.

There was an unfortunate opening for test centurion Leigh Halfpenny, who went down with a knee injury on the first sequence of the game. Quinn Ngawati won a breakdown turnover for Canada as the medics tended to the Welsh star with Peter Nelson’s penalty attempt drifting well wide of the posts.

Nelson made up for it with a pinpoint kick to the corner to put Wales under pressure. Cooper Coats went quick from an offside against Wales and the debutant inked with Ben LeSage, who put Kainoa Lloyd into the corner for a dream start. Nelson couldn’t land the extras.

A reply from the home side came swiftly and effortlessly. Callum Sheedy broke through the line and then Will Rowlands trucked ahead. Canada were guilty of offside this time and Tomos Williams took the quick tap to slice through by himself. Sheedy’s conversion gave the lead to Wales.

LeSage intercepted a reckless pass to shut down another Welsh foray but it was only a temporary reprieve. They were soon back in Canadian territory and Jonathan Davies broke down the right side, the final pass sending James Botham in for try number two. Sheedy’s kick hit the upright.

Simple hands and an offload from Nick Tompkins put Jonah Holmes over on the left side. Next sustained pressure yielded a try for Nicky Smith from close range. Before the relief of halftime would come Elliot Dee and Will Rowlands powered over to keep up the point-a-minute pace.

It took five minutes of second half play for Wales to break down the defense again. Tompkins offloaded to Sheedy, who in turn found his halfback partner Williams to his right for the easy finish under the posts. At the other and a knock-on spoiled a promising Canadian attack.

Taine Basham celebrated his test debut with two tries after just a dozen minutes of action. Canada enjoyed a spell on the front foot but attempts to ground the ball were knocked on by Lloyd and the Lucas Albornoz. They would crack over on a set move with Coats scything through the line.

The final say went to Wales. Ben Thomas chose the tap-and-go from a breakdown turnover and Holmes crossed for his second. Canada will now look to regroup during the week with England their next opponents at Twickenham next Saturday.

 

SCORING

WALES 68
Tries – T. Williams 2 (7′, 45′), J. Botham (15′), J. Holmes 2 (20′, 80′), N. Smith (28′), E. Dee (32′), W. Rowlands (37′), T. Basham 2 (56′, 62′)
Cons – C. Sheedy 7/8 (8′, 21′, 29′, 32′, 38′, 46′, 57′), B. Thomas 2/2 (63′, 80′)

CANADA 12
Tries – K. Lloyd (4′), C. Coats (68′)
Cons – P. Nelson 1/2 (69′)
Pens – P. Nelson 0/1

 

TEAMS

WALES
1 Nicky Smith (17 Gareth Thomas 50′), 2 Elliot Dee (16 Ryan Elias 50′), 3 Dillon Lewis (18 Leon Brown 50′), 4 Ben Carter, 5 Will Rowlands (19 Josh Turnbull 46′), 6 Ross Moriarty, 7 James Botham (20 Taine Basham 50′), 8 Aaron Wainwright, 9 Tomos Williams (21 Kieran Hardy 52′), 10 Callum Sheedy (22 Ben Thomas 58′), 11 Tom Rogers, 12 Jonathan Davies (capt.), 13 Willis Haloholo, 14 Jonah Holmes, 15 Leigh Halfpenny (23 Nick Tompkins 2′)

CANADA
1 Djustice Sears-Duru (17 Cole Keith HT), 2 Andrew Quattrin (16 Eric Howard 46′), 3 Jake Ilnicki (18 Tyler Rowland HT-58′), 4 Conor Keys (21 Lucas Albornoz 68′), 5 Josh Larsen, 6 Reegan O’Gorman (20 Michael Smith HT), 7 Lucas Rumball (capt.) (21 Lucas Albornoz 59′-68′), 8 Siaki Vikilani (19 Don Carson 55′), 9 Ross Braude (22 Will Percillier 55′), 10 Peter Nelson, 11 Kainoa Lloyd, 12 Quinn Ngawati, 13 Ben LeSage, 14 Cole Davis, 15 Cooper Coats (23 Robbie Povey 74′)

 

MATCH OFFICIALS

Referee: Nika Amashukeli (Georgia)
Assistants: Christophe Ridley (England) & Tom Foley (England)
TMO: Stuart Terheege (England)