Eagles dominate Canada to clinch North America series

The USA will represent North America in the Americas 1 qualifying series next month after taking a 38-16 win over Canada at Infinity Park on Saturday evening. Their dominant set piece play set the platform that saw the 13-point deficit overturned by halftime and a 59-50 aggregate score come the final whistle.

It was the kickers who opened the scoring, with AJ MacGinty slotting an early penalty that was immediately erased by a long-range effort from Cooper Coats. A shorter opportunity went to Peter Nelson to give Canada their first lead of the match.

Marcel Brache skied for a high ball and was clattered when he landed by two Canadians. The referee asked for a TMO review who found no foul play in the contact, but Jamason Fa’anana-Schultz was singled out for a dangerous clearout at the ensuing ruck which was punished by a yellow card.

Canada could not take advantage, however, and instead it was the Eagles who would score the first try of the game while still a man down. An attacking lineout yielded a try from a driving maul with Hanco Germishuys getting the credit. MacGinty couldn’t convert but the USA had snatched away the lead.

Just moments after Fa’anana-Schultz returned to the field, the USA would score again. A cross-kick found Germishuys loitering out wide and though the flanker was stopped short, Christian Dyer had come all the way across from his right wing position to pick up the ball and dive into the left corner.

Joe Taufete’e nearly had try number three for the Eagles when Kainoa Lloyd somehow pulled the ball from his arms in the act of grounding, but there would be no escape for Canada. Tavite Lopeti sent Nelson careening backwards with a powerful burst up the middle and soon it was Germishuys crashing over out wide. The posts eluded MacGinty to leave it a nine-point gap.

Straight from the restart the USA conceded three points to the boot of Nelson. They put the mistake behind them and soon the Eagles were back on the front foot. MacGinty twice turned down kickable penalties and the gamble paid off. Germishuys was a man on a mission and he would grab his hat trick under the posts to make it 25-9 at halftime.

Eric Howard and Tyler Rowland entered the game at halftime in an attempt to shore up first phase ball for Canada but the set piece woes continued as Cam Dolan stole a lineout near halfway. MacGinty’s kick rolled in-goal and a goal-line drop-out followed. It was caught cleanly by Ruben de Haas who calmly slotted a drop-goal from 42 meters to stretch the lead.

Just two minutes later de Haas was in on the act again. Braude took too long to get his box kick away and with no protection on the post, the Eagles scrumhalf charged down his opposite number and regathered. There was no-one in sight to catch de Haas as he sprinted clear for the USA’s fifth try of the game.

Before long they were in for a sixth. The scrum earned another penalty and the drive came on from the lineout. When it began to slow, Joe Taufete’e tore off the back and Braude had no chance to stop the big man from close range. MacGinty was off target with the kick but the result was now beyond doubt.

The final moments of the match saw Canada given an attacking lineout. There was no grounding as the forward drive crossed the line but Fa’anana-Schultz was ruled to have illegally jumped on the maul and the referee awarded a penalty try, and a second yellow to the Eagles flanker followed immediately by the whistle for full-time.

Both teams return to action on October 2. The USA will host Uruguay at the same venue in the 1st leg of the Americas 1 qualifying series. Canada will travel to Victoria to face Chile with the winner of their home-and-away battle advancing to the Americas 2 series and the loser dropping out of contention for a spot in Rugby World Cup 2023.

 

SCORING

USA 38
Tries – H. Germishuys 3 (17′, 29′, 40′), C. Dyer (22′), R. de Haas (51′), J. Taufete’e (63′)
Cons – A. MacGinty 1/6 (40′)
Pens – A. MacGinty 1/1 (4′)
Drop goal – R. de Haas 1/1 (49′)
Yellow cards – J. Fa’anana-Schultz (11′)
Red cards – J. Fa’anana-Schultz (80′)

CANADA 16
Tries – Penalty try (80′)
Cons – No kick (80′)
Pens – C. Coats 1/1 (6′), P. Nelson 2/2 (9′, 32′)

 

TEAMS

USA
1 David Ainu’u (17 Chance Wenglewski 66′-77′), 2 Kapeli Pifeleti (16 Dylan Fawsitt 66′), 3 Joe Taufete’e (18 Paul Mullen 66′), 4 Nate Brakeley (19 Siaosi Mahoni 74′), 5 Nick Civetta, 6 Jamason Fa’anana-Schultz, 7 Hanco Germishuys, 8 Cam Dolan (20 Andrew Guerra 75′), 9 Ruben de Haas (21 Nate Augspurger 77′), 10 AJ MacGinty (capt.), 11 Ryan Matyas, 12 Bryce Campbell, 13 Tavite Lopeti, 14 Christian Dyer (23 Mike Dabulas 77′), 15 Marcel Brache (22 Will Magie 62′)

CANADA
1 Djustice Sears-Duru (17 Cole Keith 57′), 2 Andrew Quattrin (16 Eric Howard HT), 3 Matt Tierney (18 Tyler Rowland HT), 4 Corey Thomas, 5 Conor Keys, 6 Lucas Rumball (capt.), 7 Matt Heaton (19 Kyle Baillie 50′), 8 Siaki Vikilani (20 Michael Smith 67′), 9 Ross Braude (22 Jason Higgins 64′), 10 Peter Nelson (21 Robbie Povey 66′), 11 Kainoa Lloyd, 12 Spencer Jones, 13 Ben LeSage, 14 Brock Webster, 15 Cooper Coats

Not used: 23 Patrick Parfrey

 

MATCH OFFICIALS

Referee: Mike Adamson (Scotland)
Assistants: Scott Green (USA) & Luke Rogan (USA)
TMO: Derek Summers (USA)