The Langford-based Canadian men鈥檚 rugby team is approaching it as being nine points down at halftime of a 160-minute rugby game.
One team has to be leading, and the other trailing, at the half. Happens every day in sports.
鈥淲e鈥檙e 9-0 down at the half going into the wind,鈥� said head coach Kingsley Jones.
鈥淥ne team is usually in that sort of position every game.鈥�
Uruguay won the opening Test of the two-game, total points Americas qualifier for the 2019 World Cup 38-29 last Saturday at sa国际传媒 Place. The second leg is Saturday (noon PT on TSN) in Montevideo.
鈥淲e鈥檙e going to keep focusing on winning the game, and approach that first, and then we have a strategy for the last 15 minutes depending on the scoreboard,鈥� added Jones, in a telephone news conference Thursday from South America with the Canadian sports media.
If there is any confidence in the Canadian camp, it鈥檚 that sa国际传媒 did not feel it was even remotely close to its best last Saturday in Vancouver.
鈥淭he general feeling is that we didn鈥檛 give our best performance and there is room for improvement in many aspects,鈥� said Jones.
鈥淲e need to channel our frustration and disappointment from the first game into a positive and improved performance Saturday and be confident. We have to make sure the guys don鈥檛 lack confidence. We underperformed. We left points out there [on the sa国际传媒 Place turf]. But we can improve in a week. The motivation is with us. We need to win here. That hasn鈥檛 changed, regardless of the first game.鈥�
Jones even put a percentage number to it: 鈥淚f we improve our performance by 30 per cent, I believe we can get the result we need.鈥�
Past Canadian players from rugby to soccer, however, can tell of how arduous it was for them to play in Central or South America in terms of partisan Latin crowds and sapping conditions. sa国际传媒 arrived from drizzly and grey sa国际传媒 to 34-degree summer temperatures in Montevideo on Tuesday, but that is expected to go down to 25 to 27 degrees by Saturday.
鈥淚t鈥檚 obviously a tough trip. It is very hot and acclimatization will be important for us,鈥� said Jones, who announced his roster Thursday.
Scrum-half Phil Mack of Victoria will again captain sa国际传媒.
鈥淲e鈥檝e put ourselves on the back foot and have to play our very best to pull this out, and that鈥檚 exactly what we plan on doing,鈥� said Mack, the graduate of Oak Bay High and the UVic Vikes.
鈥淲e have to eliminate some errors and see where it all falls.鈥�
Jones called it 鈥渁 major blow鈥� to have fly-half Connor Braid of Victoria out with a high-ankle sprain. Pro Shane O鈥橪eary, who has been out months with injury, returns and will take Braid鈥檚 spot. Veteran pro DTH van der Merwe of Victoria, who scored his 29th Test try last weekend, will also start among the backs with Nick Blevins, Ben LeSage, Taylor Paris and Brock Staller.
But there鈥檚 a lot missing back there with injuries to Braid, Jeff Hassler, Conor Trainor and Duncan鈥檚 Matt Evans coming at the worst time possible for sa国际传媒.
There will again be plenty of Island content up front. sa国际传媒鈥檚 starting frontline of Hubert Buydens, Ray Barkwill and Jake Ilnicki spent considerable time at Windsor Park playing for Castaway Wanderers. The second line features Josh Larsen of Parksville and former University of Victoria Vikes star Brett Beukeboom.
sa国际传媒 collectively has a massive challenge ahead of it Saturday.
鈥淲e can鈥檛 leak tries like we did at sa国际传媒 Place,鈥� said Jones.
鈥淲e missed too many tackles and we鈥檝e got to be better with our technique. We鈥檝e worked very hard on our defence this week and there鈥檚 been a lot of talk around improving our line speed in order to put Uruguay under pressure with ball in hand.鈥�
This is the first time sa国际传媒 has had to go through the back-door Americas qualifier. sa国际传媒 was put into this spot after losing for the first time in its history to the U.S. Eagles last summer in the direct North American qualifier.
sa国际传媒 is 8-3 all-time against Uruguay. But, tellingly, Uruguay has won the last two meetings.
If Uruguay takes the Americas back-door slot by winning Saturday, or losing by nine points or less, sa国际传媒鈥檚 last hope rests with winning the at-large, four-team last-chance world repechage tournament this summer for the 20th and final berth into the 2019 World Cup, to be hosted by Japan.
Island fans will get to see the Canadian team live in a Test match against Brazil on Feb. 17 at Westhills Stadium. It is not a qualifier but part of the separate Americas Rugby Championship. If sa国际传媒 can鈥檛 win by at least 10 points Saturday, it will suddenly become preparation for the last-chance World Cup qualifier in June.
