Energetic Canada outplay Romania in Ottawa

Canada turned the tables on the form guide to earn a 35-22 win over Romania in Ottawa on Friday night. Played in stifling humidity, fans were nonetheless treated to a surprisingly entertaining contest with both teams using the width of the field to attack. It was a welcome and overdue result for the Maple Leafs, who hadn’t beaten the Oaks in a test match since the 1995 World Cup.

The home side were on the front foot early. A multi-phased attack led to a Peter Nelson penalty goal after four minutes. He would add a second after Conor Young won a turnover at the breakdown. Alin Conache got the visitors on the board when the Romanian scrum got the shove-on a dozen minutes in.

Both sides made advances that were repelled until eventually the Canadians pushed into scoring position. Nelson put toe to ball and Nic Benn won the race to ground the ball in-goal. As the try was awarded Jason Tomane saw yellow for deliberately taking out Andrew Coe on the chase.

With Tomane still in the bin the Romanian pack went to work, with Vlad Neculau driven over in the middle of a maul. The Canadians appeared to respond in kind but Kyle Baillie’s efforts were erased when a TMO review concluded there was obstruction. A late penalty attempt from Nelson went astray and the score stood 13-10 in favor of the home side after 40 minutes.

Not long into the second half the Canadians were back on the doorstep. Ethan Fryer spotted a half-gap on the edge of a ruck and slipped over for a try on debut. Just a few moments after the restart Yanis Horvat burst onto a flat pass for a clean line break. The second row galloped 20 meters before finding Conache in support to finish from the 10-meter line.

Conache had a chance to level the scores with a fairly straightforward penalty kick but he skewed the attempt badly and the flags stayed down. Canada couldn’t quite clear and the Oaks kept the pressure on. While the forwards failed to crack the line, the ball went wide right where Tevita Manumua was lurking to curl around on the end of an overlap. The kick from Conache was off-target but Romania now held a two-point lead with 20 minutes to play.

Once again the Canadians pushed forward with a penalty yielding an attacking throw-in. The maul was sacked but Andrew Quattrin attacked the short side to restore the home side’s lead. A heavy aerial collision between Nelson and Manumua resulted in a yellow card for the Romanian winger. Just a couple minutes later an overthrow at the lineout went straight to Quattrin, who fell over the line for a brace.

The clock was now against the Oaks but Fonovai Tangimana looked to be in for a try when replacement winger Takoda McMullin thumped into the makeshift flanker and dislodged the ball. Canada cleared and with one minute to play Nelson smashed home a penalty goal from 49 meters to bring a roar from the crowd and put a bow on a memorable evening.

That concludes the summer test window for both sides. Canada will now turn their eyes towards Japan for the opening round of the Pacific Nations Cup in Vancouver next month. Romania’s next test will be against Tonga in early November.

 

SCORING

CANADA 35
Tries (4) – N. Benn (24′), E. Fryer (44′), A. Quattrin 2 (65′, 69′)
Cons (3) – P. Nelson 3/4 (25′, 45′, 66′)
Pens (3) – P. Nelson 3/4 (4′, 10′, 79′)

ROMANIA 22
Tries (3) – V. Neculau (31′), A. Conache (48′), T. Manumua (61′)
Cons (2) – A. Conache 2/3 (32′, 49′)
Pens (1) – A. Conache 1/2 (13′)
YC (2) – J. Tomane (24′), T. Manumua (67′)

TEAMS

CANADA
1 Liam Murray (17 Cali Martinez 49′), 2 Andrew Quattrin (16 Dewald Kotze 77′), 3 Conor Young ( 18 Cole Keith 70′), 4 Conor Keys, 5 Kyle Baillie (19 James Stockwood 79′), 6 Mason Flesch, 7 Ethan Fryer (20 Sion Parry 70′), 8 Lucas Rumball (capt.), 9 Jason Higgins (21 Brock Gallagher 79′), 10 Peter Nelson, 11 Nic Benn, 12 Talon McMullin (22 Mark Balaski 79′), 13 Ben LeSage, 14 Andrew Coe, 15 Cooper Coats (23 Takoda McMullin 66′)

ROMANIA
1 Iulian Hartig (17 Alexandru Savin 45′), 2 Ștefan Buruiana (16 Rob Irimescu 54′), 3 Vasile Balan (18 Cosmin Manole 79′), 4 Yanis Horvat, 5 Andrei Mahu (19 Marius Iftimiciuc 45′), 6 Vlad Neculau, 7 Dragos Ser (20 Fonovai Tangimana 60′), 8 Nicolaas Immelman, 9 Alin Conache (21 Gabriel Rupanu 66′), 10 Hinckley Vaovasa, 11 Tevita Manumua, 12 Jason Tomane, 13 Mihai Graure, 14 Marius Simionescu (capt.) (23 Daniel Plai 79′), 15 Paul Popoaia (22 Corrado Stetco 77′)

MATCH INFO

Date: Friday, July 12
Venue: TD Place Stadium, Ottawa
Kickoff: 19:00 local
Weather: cloudy, 81°F (27°C), humidex 97°F (36°C), wind S 6-7mph

OFFICIALS

Referee: Hollie Davidson (Scotland)
Assistants: Kat Roche (USA) & Luke Rogan (USA)
TMO: Austin Reed (USA)