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Irish eyes were smiling Saturday. But not on sa国际传媒.
The world 18th-ranked national rugby team, with several Island players, gave it a valiant run despite losing 52-21 to fifth-ranked Ireland in a rugby Test before 52,000 fans at Aviva Park in Dublin.
Irish rugby came into the game riding the crest of a green wave one week after it scored a historic first victory over the New Zealand All Blacks before a capacity crowd at Soldier Field in Chicago.
sa国际传媒 faced a stiff challenge Saturday, even with an Irish line-up completely changed from their victory over the Kiwis.
Yet the Canucks held tough. They could have gone into the break tied, but trailed by seven points thanks to a late first-half try for the hosts.
鈥淲e could have easily come into the break even, which would have been nice, but a lack of concentration there a minute or so before half time and they got in another one,鈥� Victoria-based Canadian head coach Mark Anscombe said in a statement.
鈥淛ust one missed tackle, we should have had it. Little things like that hurt us all day.鈥�
Backs DTH van der Merwe of Victoria and Matt Evans of Duncan scored tries for sa国际传媒, along with Taylor Paris of Barrie, Ont.
Van der Merwe鈥檚 try was his 21st in a Test as he hones in on the all-time Canadian record of 24, held by Winston Stanley of Victoria.
Anscombe said the score wasn鈥檛 as lopsided as it seemed. sa国际传媒 remains winless against Ireland, with seven losses and a draw in eight games.
鈥淭hey blew out a couple tries in the end just to blow the score out, which is a bit disappointing,鈥� said Anscombe, who knows Irish rugby well after having coached Ulster.
鈥淥verall, I thought there鈥檚 a lot of good aspects and the boys could be proud of what they did today. I thought our set-piece was pretty good, we got quality ball. Our tackling at times was really good even though we missed crucial tackles at key times.鈥�
sa国际传媒 fielded its best backfield since the 2015 World Cup, including van der Merwe and Evans, and it showed with some enterprising runs.
Current or alumni Castaways Wanderers of Oak Bay were well represented in the starting Canadian lineup with Ray Barkwill, Jake Ilnicki and Ciaran Hearn. Also starting were Kyle Baillie of the Westshore Valhallians and Connor Braid of James Bay.
Dressed in reserve was Phil Mack of James Bay as the Victoria rugby great made his return to international play after retiring from the sevens game following sa国际传媒鈥檚 failure to qualify for the 2016 Rio Olympics.
The November Test window continues for sa国际传媒 on Saturday against Romania in Bucharest and Nov. 25 against Samoa in Grenoble, France.
