Full Match – Canada vs USA 2001

In the first test match of the new year for the North American rivals, Canada played host to the USA at Kingston’s Richardson Stadium on Saturday, May 19, 2001. It was the opening match of the Pan Am Championship and was played in front of a new tournament record attendance of 7,155.

The Eagles had beaten Canada in two straight matches leading in, having broken a seven-match losing streak against Canada. Aside from the Can-Am Trophy being on the line, the winner would also move on to the Pacific Rim Championship later in the year – a precursor to the Pacific Nations Cup that included Fiji, Japan, Samoa, and Tonga.

Both sides were coached by Australians at the time. Canada were led by David Clark who had also run the highly successful CCSD/Pacific Pride residential development program. Former Wallabies lock Duncan Hall was in charge of the Eagles but he would take up a post with the Waratahs a year later.

It was a formidable Canadian pack with captain Gregor Dixon, also a top class sevens player, ironically the least-capped player in the forwards. England-based No8 Mike Schmid was returning for the first time since the 1999 World Cup and there were nearly test debuts as replacements for Toronto Irish hooker Dale Burleigh and Capilano lock Ron Johnstone, but time would run out before they would take the field.

The backs had a more youthful feel to them with first caps for Ed Fairhurst, John Cannon, and Jeff Williams. Scott Stewart was the most experienced man in the side in his 59th test. He would retire a month later. Marco Di Girolamo made his debut from the bench where Bob Ross was taking up a spot after spending two years in the wilderness.

Future captain Mike MacDonald was making his first test start in the Eagles front row in just his second international appearance. Behind him were old heads in Luke Gross, Dave Hodges, and Dan Lyle. The back row also featured a young Kort Schubert, another who would go on to captain his country.

A late injury to Kurt Shuman handed John Buchholz a start at fullback in his test debut. Kevin Dalzell and Juan Grobler were the most experienced in the Eagles backline with Philip Eloff still relatively new in his 9th international. Future Major League Rugby CEO’s Alex Magleby and Kimball Kjar were on the bench, the latter still four days away from his test bow against Argentina.

The match would also serve as a warm-up for prestigious opposition yet to came. England’s full test side toured North America for the first and only time later that month, playing two matches against Canada – in Toronto and Vancouver – and one against the Eagles in San Francisco.

CANADA
1 Rod Snow, 2 Pat Dunkley, 3 Jon Thiel, 4 John Tait, 5 Ed Knaggs, 6 Ryan Banks, 7 Gregor Dixon (capt.), 8 Mike Schmid, 9 Ed Fairhurst, 10 Scott Stewart, 11 Sean Fauth, 12 Mark Irvine, 13 John Cannon, 14 Nik Witkowski, 15 Jeff Williams

Replacements: 16 Dale Burleigh, 17 Duane Major, 18 Kevin Wirachowksi, 19 Ron Johnstone, 20 Jeff Tomlinson, 21 Marco Di Girolamo, 22 Bob Ross

USA
1 Mike MacDonald, 2 Robbie Flynn, 3 Paul Still, 4 Luke Gross, 5 Tom Kelleher, 6 Dave Hodges (capt.), 7 Kort Schubert, 8 Dan Lyle, 9 Kevin Dalzell, 10 Grant Wells, 11 Malakai Delai, 12 Juan Grobler, 13 Philip Eloff, 14 Jovesa Naivalu, 15 John Buchholz

Replacements: 16 Kirk Khasigian, 17 Tim Kleumpers, 18 Olo Fifita, 19 Alex Magleby, 20 Mose Timoteo, 21 Link Wilfley, 22 Kimball Kjar

Referee: Santiago Borsani (Argentina)
Assistants: Eduardo Blengio (Uruguay) & Steve Scott (Canada)

Attendance: 7,155