Canada rout Russia in Calgary

Canada had little difficulty getting past the visiting Russian side as they dominated the scoreboard with a final tally of 46-21. While head coach Mark Anscombe will not be pleased to concede 21 points to a team that lacked any real creativity on attack, he will also note that two of those scores came in the final quarter with half his team playing out of position due to cramp and injury. At one point there were three props on the field for Canada, and in the final minutes reserve scrumhalf Jamie Mackenzie was forced to scrum down as a flanker.

Scrumhalf Gordon McRorie led the way with 26 points including two tries and a seven-from-eight kicking performance. McRorie was the first to find the tryline, put away by a nice offload from Mozac Samson, followed shortly by Taylor Paris. Samson was at it again soon, this time finding Matt Evans for a third try in rapid fire succession. Patrick Parfrey got a fourth a few minutes later and Canada were off to the races.

If there was a period of disappointment it was immediately following, when Canada seemed to lose their concentration and Russia pulled up their socks. Burly prop Innokenty Zykov went over give the Bears some hope, and Canada crept back to the locker room to find their focus.

McRorie notched a penalty goal and then scored his second try early in the second stanza. Jordan Wilson-Ross, who impressed as a substitute for a dazed Taylor Paris, used some nifty footwork to score his first test try in the 55th minute to end any hopes of a Russian recovery. Two late tries from replacement hooker Evgeny Matveev added some respectability to the score with Yuri Kushnarev’s sideline conversion into the wind on the second a highlight.

Russia now head south to Sacramento where they face the USA in a week’s time. Canada end their June campaign when they host Italy at BMO Field in Toronto on Sunday. They will hope for good news on the walking wounded during the week. Paris and Cameron Pierce are of particular concern after coming off injured, and several players look to be suffering from wear and tear.

 

SCORING

CANADA 46
Tries – G. McRorie 2 (4′, 45′), T. Paris (9′), M. Evans (13′), P. Parfrey (24′), J. Wilson-Ross (55′)
Cons – G. McRorie 5/6 (5′, 14′, 25′, 46′, 56′)
Pens – G. McRorie 2/2 (43′, 72′)

RUSSIA 21
Tries – I. Zykov (30′), E. Matveev 2 (66′, 77′)
Cons – Y. Kushnarev 3/3 (31′, 67′, 78′)

 

TEAMS

CANADA
1 Djustice Sears-Duru (21 Jamie Mackenzie 74′), 2 Ray Barkwill (16 Eric Howard 56′), 3 Jake Ilnicki (18 Matt Tierney 66′), 4 Jamie Cudmore (capt.) (19 Cameron Pierce 59′ {17 Tom Dolezel 68′}), 5 Evan Olmstead, 6 Kyle Baillie, 7 Lucas Rumball (20 Alistair Clark 60′), 8 Aaron Carpenter, 9 Gordon McRorie, 10 Patrick Parfrey (22 Liam Underwood 61′), 11 Taylor Paris (23 Jordan Wilson-Ross 37′), 12 Nick Blevins, 13 Mozac Samson, 14 Dan Moor, 15 Matt Evans

RUSSIA
1 Azamat Bitiev (17 Alexei Volkov 54′), 2 Nazir Gasanov (16 Evgeny Matveev 56′), 3 Innokenty Zykov (18 Vladimir Podrezov 60′), 4 Andrei Garbuzov, 5 Denis Antonov (19 Evgeny Elgin 60′), 6 Viktor Gresev, 7 Andrei Temnov (20 Pavel Butenko 56′), 8 Anton Rudoi, 9 Alexei Shcherban (21 Rushan Yagudin 70′), 10 Yuri Kushnarev (23 Sergei Yanyushkin 78′), 11 Evgeni Kolomiytsev, 12 Vladimir Rudenko, 13 Dimitri Gerasimov (22 Anton Ryabov 66′), 14 Konstantin Uzunov, 15 Vasili Artemiev (capt.)

 

MATCH OFFICIALS

Referee: Shuhei Kubo (JRFU)
Assistants: Federico Anselmi (UAR) & Kurt Weaver (USAR)
TMO: Dave Ardrey (USAR)