Canada shut out Belgium despite early red card

Canada’s Senior Men’s team defeated Belgium 24-0 at Nelson Mandela Stadium in Brussels on Saturday. The victory came despite a red card to flanker Michael Smith which forced the Canadians to play shorthanded for over an hour.

An early line breach resulted in a try for Canada. Ben LeSage took the ball flat on the gainline from scrumhalf Jason Higgins, bursting clean threw the defense. He drew in two cover defenders before offloading to Corey Thomas in support on his inside to take it the rest of the way. Robbie Povey took the routine conversion.

Povey would add a penalty goal soon after to make the score 10-0, but the Belgians were not dismayed. The Black Devils managed to fight their way into Canadian territory to earn a penalty attempt for Henri Dequenne though it would not find its mark.

The bad news for Smith would soon come as a TMO review identified a shoulder-to-head clearout on Belgian lock Guillaume Mortier. Canadian captain Lucas Rumball protested but the referee explained he had no option and ordered Smith from the pitch.

Light rain began to fall and though now reduced to 14 men, Canada began to exert their dominance. Poor accuracy in the lineout however saw them squander multiple scoring opportunities. Conor Keys then left the pitch with a head knock, replaced by Josh Larsen. Povey attempted to take three points as the half ended but to no avail.

Eric Howard replaced Andrew Quattrin at halftime but the hooker soon found himself in hot water for tipping a Belgian player beyond the horizontal at a ruck. The Canadians held out with just 13 men and Povey had another shot at goal though again it fell short.

Spencer Jones was then handed the kicking duties and he would be successful with three penalties in a span of 10 minutes as Canada stretched away. With time nearly expired replacement scrumhalf Ross Braude kicked in behind the Belgian defense. Kainoa Lloyd’s pressure forced the ball to come loose and Braude pounced to score the try.

The final two minutes saw Foster DeWitt and David Richard come on the field to join starting winger Isaac Olson in winning their first caps. Richard had been a late inclusion on the bench when Brock Webster has withdrawn before kickoff.

Both teams have now completed their test schedules for the year. Belgium will return to action in February for the Rugby Europe Trophy competition. Canada reconvenes in July with most of their players set to play in the 2022 Major League Rugby season.

 

SCORING

BELGIUM 0
Pens – H. Dequenne 0/1

CANADA 24
Tries – C. Thomas (3′), R. Braude (76′)
Cons – R. Povey 1/1 (4′), S. Jones 0/1
Pens – R. Povey 1/3 (13′), S. Jones 3/3 (56′, 63′, 65′)
YC – E. Howard (47′)
RC – M. Smith (18′)

 

TEAMS

BELGIUM
1 Charlesty Berguet (17 Ian Dumez 63′), 2 Vincent Tauzia (16 Alexandre Raynier 50′), 3 Basile van Parys (18 Samuel Opsomer 50′), 4 Guillaume Mortier (19 Frédéric De Smet 59′), 5 Maximilien Hendrickx, 6 Jean-Maurice Decubber (capt.), 7 Hugues Bastin, 8 Michael Abrahams (21 Toon Deceuninck 48′), 9 Ryan Godsmark (20 Tom Cocqu 63′), 10 Henri Dequenne (23 Matias Remue 63′), 11 Hugo Ruelle, 12 Viktor Pazgrat (22 Basile Poupaert HT), 13 Jens Torfs, 14 Thomas Wallraf, 15 Charles Reynaert

CANADA
1 Cole Keith (17 Djustice Sears-Duru 53′), 2 Andrew Quattrin (16 Eric Howard HT), 3 Tyler Rowland (18 Foster DeWitt 78′), 4 Conor Keys (19 Josh Larsen 32′), 5 Kyle Baillie, 6 Lucas Rumball (capt.), 7 Michael Smith, 8 Corey Thomas (20 Mason Flesch 78′), 9 Jason Higgins (21 Ross Braude 63′), 10 Spencer Jones, 11 Kainoa Lloyd (22 David Richard 78′), 12 Quinn Ngawati, 13 Ben LeSage, 14 Isaac Olson (2 Andrew Quattrin 50′-57′) (23 Lockie Kratz 78′), 15 Robbie Povey

 

MATCH OFFICIALS

Referee: Andrea Piardi (Italy)
Assistants: Federico Vedovelli (Italy) & Manuel Bottino (Italy)
TMO: Stefano Penne (Italy)