Steve Meehan’s tenure as Head Coach for Canada got off to an inauspicious start as the Maple Leafs crashed to defeat against Belgium for the first time. The final score read 25-18 in Edmonton, with the Black Devils exploiting sizeable gaps in Canada’s backline defense en route to their historic result.
Early set piece dominance resulted in strong field position for the Canadians, and eventually a penalty in striking range saw Cooper Coats opening the scoring at the 7 minute mark. The Black Devils responded with the first try of the game. Matias Remue looped around and sliced clean through at halfway, with his twin brother Florian in support for the easy finish. The conversion made it 7-3 to the visitors.
The Maple Leafs worked their way into Belgian territory and after several phases Coats spotted Josiah Morra open out wide. A cross-kick bounced up perfectly for the winger to regather and ground the ball. Canada were pressing for another score after a line break from Piers von Dadelszen, but a turnover from Felipe Geraghty gave Isaac Montoisy a chance to counter. The scrumhalf swerved outside and delivered a back-handed pass to Siméon Soenen for a breakaway try against the run of play.
Discipline was becoming a problem for the Black Devils and a string of penalties landed Canada an attacking lineout. Andrew Quattrin found his target in Izzak Kelly and it was Quattrin himself who got credit for the try as the maul drove through the Belgian pack. A half-break from Coats nearly resulted in another score with Lucas Rumball spun through a tackle, but the referee ruled it held up over the line and the Maple Leafs took a one-point lead into halftime.
Early in the second half Coats worked a nifty give-and-go with Flesch to make territory but they were cut down and the ball turned over. Another Canadian advance resulted in a yellow card to Florian Remue for repeat team infringements. Despite being shorthanded Matias Remue again found a hole in the defense and broke up the middle. The Belgians looked certain to score but the final pass from Soenen to Dazzy Cornez didn’t go to hand.
Canada were in possession and advancing near halfway when a loose pass from Talon McMullin went straight to Jens Torfs. The Belgian captain made it inside the 22-meter line before being tackled, and the ball was recycled quickly with a cross-kick from Hugo de Francq finding Soenen open on the right side for an easy try just before Remue emerged from the sin bin. de Francq tacked on the conversion, and added a penalty goal at the hour mark after another Belgian assault was deemed held up by a TMO review.
With the Black Devils pressing for the coup de grâce, de Francq attempted a drop goal only to see it ring off the left upright. He would get another shot off the tee soon after and this time made no mistake. A late yellow card to Thomas Wallraf, again for team infringements, allowed Canada to press for a consolation score. It would come via Sion Parry from short range but it was too little, too late for the men in red.
Edmonton will serve as home base for the Canadians during the week as they prepare for the more difficult challenge that Spain presents in a week’s time. It’s unclear at this stage if Meehan will have any reinforcements in his inexperienced backline who were given a stern lesson in attacking space by Soenon and the brothers Remue on Saturday evening.
CANADA 18
Tries (3) – J. Morra (22′), A. Quattrin (32′), S. Parry (80’+2′)
Cons (0) – C. Coats 0/3
Pens (1) – C. Coats 1/1 (7′)
BELGIUM 25
Tries (3) – F. Remue (14′), S. Soenen 2 (25′, 52′)
Cons (2) – F. Remue 1/2 (15′), H. de Francq 1/1 (53′)
Pens (2) – H. de Francq 2/2 (60′, 75′)
DG (0) – H. de Francq 0/1
YC (2) – F. Remue (42′), T. Wallraf (79′)
CANADA
1 Cali Martinez (17 Foster DeWitt 58′), 2 Andrew Quattrin (16 Dewald Kotze 73′), 3 Cole Keith (18 Kyle Steeves 53′), 4 Piers von Dadelszen, 5 Izzak Kelly (19 Callum Botchar 65′), 6 Matt Heaton (20 Sion Parry 68′), 7 Lucas Rumball (capt.), 8 Matthew Oworu, 9 Brock Gallagher (21 Jason Higgins 54′), 10 Cooper Coats, 11 Josiah Morra, 12 Talon McMullin (23 Kyle Tremblay 53′), 13 Noah Flesch, 14 Isaac Olson, 15 Brenden Black (22 Peter Nelson 73′)
BELGIUM
1 Charlesty Berguet (18 Basile van Parys 73′), 2 Bruno Vliegen (17 Alexandre Raynier HT), 3 Jean-Baptiste de Clercq (16 Seppe Verelst 73′), 4 Toon Deceuninck, 5 Arthur Smeets (20 Tom Calomme 47′), 6 Felipe Geraghty (19 Dries de Keyser 44′-56′, 76′), 7 Jérémie Brasseur, 8 Lucas Rassinfosse, 9 Isaac Montoisy (21 Julien Berger 48′), 10 Matias Remue, 11 Dazzy Cornez (22 Hugo de Francq 48′), 12 Jens Torfs (capt.) (23 Guillem Fernández Grau 73′), 13 Florian Remue, 14 Thomas Wallraf, 15 Siméon Soenen
Date: Saturday, July 12
Venue: Clarke Stadium, Edmonton
Kickoff: 19:00 local
Weather: partly cloudy, 79°F (26°C), wind NW 12-18mph (19-29km/h)
Referee: Gonzalo de Achaval (Argentina)
Assistants: Angus Mabey (New Zealand) & Luke Rogan (USA)
TMO: Mike Kelly (USA)
