Four tries and a man-of-the-match performance from Tyler Ardron propelled Canada to a stunning 34-20 win over the USA in Calgary on Friday night. While the Eagles had a slight edge in the scrum, the Canadian pack starved their opposites of possession at the lineout. The result almost certainly sends the Maple Leafs back to the World Cup with a single bonus point against Japan enough to relegate the Eagles to the 5th-place playoff in the Pacific Nations Cup.
The game was played at a breakneck pace from the opening whistle. Canada were quickest to find the score sheet. A USA knock-on handed over possession and the forwards piled on until Ardron sneakily reached over on the edge of a ruck.
Not long after the Canadians were caught offside and gave the Eagles a shot for points. AJ MacGinty instead took the corner. The throw-in was successful but the drive went nowhere, but when the ball came out a hard line from Dom Besag was too much for his opposite to handle and he crashed over to score. MacGinty’s extras drew the scores level.
MacGinty was the architect of the next try, finding a wide-open Rufus McLean on the right side with a cross-kick. The home side had an immediate answer, however, with Noah Flesch dummying and speeding away on an angled run deep inside US territory. When Canada won a penalty, Peter Nelson caught the Eagles defense unawares with by quickly kicking wide left where Ardron was waiting for his double. The conversion attempt was off target and the USA held a slender lead.
A back and forth battle continued until Canada were again offside, allowing MacGinty a chance to stretch the lead to five. It wouldn’t hold to halftime. After winning an attacking throw-in, Canada’s maul was slowed but the forwards piled on the pressure until Ardron again found an open patch of the line and reached under a rising Evan Olmstead to claim a hat-trick and make it 17-all at the intermission.
The start of the second half initially went badly for Canada as a knock-on followed by a penalty allowed MacGinty to take more points with the boot. Nelson cancelled the score with a shot of his own after the USA were pinged for collapsing a maul. Another penalty put the Maple Leafs within striking range, and they opted for a tap play. Matt Oworu bashed ahead and then it was none other than Ardron who took it on, this time using his footwork to beat the defense and touch down for a fourth time.
Things went south when a high ball from JP Smith bounced off the deck and Nelson was there to hack it downfield. The fullback gave it another nudge with the boot before running the race to the ground, converting his own try to make it a 14-point gap.
Hope of a comeback diminished when MacGinty saw yellow for sticking out an arm to knock down a pass between Ben LeSage and Josiah Morra. One last attack from the Eagles in search of a bonus point ended with Olmstead draped over the breakdown to win a turnover that brought a roar from the crowd.
Canada will travel to Japan next week knowing that four tries scored or a loss by seven points or less will guarantee their ticket to Australia. The USA head home to California to review what went wrong and prepare for their clash with the Brave Blossoms in Sacramento on September 6.
CANADA 34
Tries (5) – T. Ardron 4 (3′, 21′, 37′, 56′), P. Nelson (60′)
Cons (3) – P. Nelson 3/5 (4′, 57′, 61′)
Pens (1) – P. Nelson 1/1 (44′)
USA 20
Tries (2) – D. Besag (9′), R. McLean (17′)
Cons (2) – A. MacGinty 2/2 (10′, 18′)
Pens (2) – A. MacGinty 2/2 (33′, 42′)
YC (1) – A. MacGinty (65′)
CANADA
1 Cali Martinez (17 Emerson Prior 80′), 2 Dewald Kotze (16 Jesse Mackail 77′), 3 Cole Keith (18 Kyle Steeves 80′), 4 Piers von Dadelszen, 5 Evan Olmstead (20 Sion Parry 80′), 6 Matthew Oworu (19 Mason Flesch 57′), 7 Lucas Rumball (capt.), 8 Tyler Ardron, 9 Jason Higgins (21 Stephen Webb 80′), 10 Cooper Coats, 11 Josiah Morra, 12 Ben LeSage, 13 Noah Flesch (22 Spencer Jones 80′), 14 Isaac Olson (23 Nic Benn 52′), 15 Peter Nelson
USA
1 Jack Iscaro (17 Ezekiel Lindenmuth 50′), 2 Kapeli Pifeleti (16 Kaleb Geiger 50′), 3 Tonga Kofe (18 Pono Davis HT), 4 Marno Redelinguys, 5 Jason Damm, 6 Benjamín Bonasso (capt.) (20 Vili Helu 50′), 7 Cory Daniel (21 Christian Poidevin 36′), 8 Makeen Alikhan (19 Tevita Naqali 71′), 9 JP Smith (22 Ethan McVeigh 73′), 10 AJ MacGinty, 11 Lauina Futi, 12 Tavite Lopeti, 13 Dom Besag, 14 Rufus McLean (15 Erich Storti 75′), 15 Erich Storti (23 Tom Pittman 66′)
Date: Friday, August 22
Venue: McMahon Stadium, Calgary
Kickoff: 19:00 local
Weather: sunny, 68°F (20°C), wind S 12-18mph (19-29km/h)
Referee: Luke Pearce (England)
Assistants: Adam Leal (England) & Anthony Woodthorpe (England)
TMO: Eric Gauzins (France)
