USA fend off Canada in Montevideo

The USA Select XV closed out their Americas Pacific Challenge in style as they romped to victory over Canada ‘A’ by 45-26 at the Estadio Charrua on Sunday. A four-try performance from Hanco Germishuys led the way as they outscored their northern neighbors by seven tries to four.

Germishuys struck first when he peeled off a 5-meter scrum. Before the Canadian loose forwards had even popped their heads up he was over the line. JP Eloff hit the easy conversion to make it 7-0.

There was an immediate reply, however, when a loose ball was picked up by Andrew Ferguson who quickly shipped it to Mike Nieuwenhuysen. The big center somehow got a back-handed offload out of the tackle to Kainoa Lloyd who raced away into the corner. Robbie Povey couldn’t make the difficult conversion but the gap was only two.

Two quick-fire tries from the USA put Canada on notice. First Josh Whippy, who had a superb match on the wing, cut an inside line and dished the ball to Bryce Campbell for a try. Next it was Germishuys in for his second after numerous phases on the Canadian line.

Canada were under fire but enjoyed a clear advantage in the scrum and tight-loose. After winning a penalty they patiently walked their maul forward until Ray Barkwill fell over the line for a try.

The USA got their bonus point score before the break. Tim Maupin broke clear and was just felled by an ankle tap from Dustin Dobravsky, but the support was there in numbers and Angus MacLellan was in to make it 26-12 at halftime.

Lucas Rumball crossed early in the second half as Canada again pounded ahead through the forwards to bring them within one score. More Whippy interventions put the USA back on the front foot and Ben Cima popped back inside to Ruben de Haas for a quick response.

Within no time Canada was in for their fourth try through Guiseppe du Toit after a multi-phase attack. They looked close to scoring again and at a 5 meter scrum they appeared to win one against the head but the referee instead ruled a reset. Cole Keith directed his frustrations at the assistant referee and was dispatched to the sin bin.

Down to 14 men there was no coming back and the USA fired in two more scores, both scored by Germishuys. The first was a long passing sequence that put the No 8 into the corner, the second a massive individual effort that saw Germishuys sprinting past and swatting away a handful of Canadian defenders on a 50 meter gallop to the line.

The USA will now wait for the result of the final match between Argentina and Uruguay to learn their ultimate standing but can be pleased with their tournament as a whole. For Germishuys in particular his unfortunate red card in the opening match is now a distant memory.

Canada meanwhile are once again left in the basement. They have now failed to find a victory at the tournament for two successive years and have precious little time to regroup before facing the Māori in Vancouver and then embarking for Europe. It remains to be seen how many from this group will be summoned for senior duty.

 

SCORING

CANADA 26
Tries – K. Lloyd (7’), R. Barkwill (22’), L. Rumball (46’), G. du Toit (61’)
Cons – R. Povey 3/4 (23’, 47’, 62’)
Yellow cards – C. Keith (71’)

USA 45
Tries – H. Germishuys 4 (5’, 16’, 73’, 80’), B. Campbell (12’), A. MacLellan (28’), R. de Haas (57’)
Cons – J. Eloff 3/4 (6’, 13’, 17’), B. Cima 2/3 (58’, 74’)

 

TEAMS

CANADA ‘A’
1 Hubert Buydens, 2 Ray Barkwill, 3 Cole Keith, 4 Adrian Wadden, 5 Conor Keys, 6 Kyle Gilmour (capt.), 7 Lucas Rumball, 8 Dustin Dobravsky, 9 Andrew Ferguson, 10 Robbie Povey, 11 Conor Desmond, 12 Patrick Parfrey, 13 Mike Nieuwenhuysen, 14 Kainoa Lloyd, 15 Guiseppe du Toit

Replacements: 16 Martial Lagain, 17 Liam Murray, 18 Ryan Kotlewski, 19 Liam Chisholm, 20 Travis Larsen, 21 Jorden Sandover-Best, 22 Brett Johnson, 23 Aidan McMullan

USA SELECT XV
1 Alex Maughan, 2 Peter Malcolm (capt.), 3 Angus MacLellan, 4 Brendan Daly, 5 Matt Jensen, 6 Ben Landry, 7 Aladdin Schirmer, 8 Hanco Germishuys, 9 Holden Yungert, 10 Mike McCarthy, 11 Josh Whippy, 12 Lemoto Filikitonga, 13 Bryce Campbell, 14 Tim Maupin, JP Eloff

Replacements: 16 Alex Vorster, 17 Kelepi Fifita, 18 Chance Wenglewski, 19 Brendan Hardiman, 20 Psalm Wooching, 21 Ruben de Haas, 22 Ben Cima, 23 Mitch Wilson

 

MATCH OFFICIALS

Referee: Francisco González (URU)