UNITED STATES聽 52
CANADA聽 16
U.S. wins 80-44 on aggregate
That it happened on sa国际传媒 Day was just an added, cruel irony.
The Langford-based Canadian men鈥檚 rugby team has spiralled from being the lumberjack-like, bearded darlings of the 2011 World Cup into the lowly third tier of the international game.
The fall was made complete by Saturday鈥檚 crushing 52-16 loss to the U.S. Eagles at Torero Stadium, on the University of San Diego campus. The win gave the U.S., who ran in eight tries, an 80-44 aggregate victory in the two-leg North American qualifier and a berth into the 2019 World Cup in Japan. The first game was tied 28-28 last week at Tim Hortons Field in Hamilton, Ont.
There is still a back-door route for sa国际传媒 into the next World Cup, but it involves having to win a home-and-away, two-game, total-points set against Uruguay next February for a wildcard berth.
It represents a demarcation point for Canadian rugby, and not a good one. sa国际传媒, which has qualified for every World Cup through the front door, has never before had to go through the consolation door. There is no guarantee that it will. sa国际传媒 lost 17-13 to Uruguay in February, although sa国际传媒 fielded a younger developmental side.
sa国际传媒 has slipped precipitously from being ranked No. 12 in the world in 2011, with a reputation as a leading light among the second-tier nations, to No. 23.
In a longer historical view, sa国际传媒 was quarter-finalist in the 1991 World Cup before bowing out only after a hard-fought match against the New Zealand All Blacks.
But all that seems like it happened on another planet.
Rugby sa国际传媒, whose national headquarters are at the Westhills Stadium complex, issued a statement following Saturday鈥檚 humbling loss to the Eagles.
It read: 鈥淎 full comprehensive review of our men鈥檚 team鈥檚 June tour, as part of our standard protocol, will be conducted following today鈥檚 result.鈥�
The tour also included Test losses to Georgia in Calgary and Romania in Edmonton.
鈥淭his is not the result we have been working towards, but we are confident we will qualify in the second round,鈥� Jim Dixon, Rugby sa国际传媒鈥檚 general manager of rugby operations and performance, said in a statement.
鈥淲e started centralization in Langford 10 months ago and have seen benefits. However, the players need higher-quality competition on a regular basis so that they come into the international competition windows fully prepared for Test match rugby.
鈥淭he margins of competition are growing every year and we have to keep evolving and improving domestically and finding more opportunities for our players to go overseas full time.鈥�
It didn鈥檛 help sa国际传媒鈥檚 cause Saturday that South African-born DTH van der Merwe of Victoria鈥檚 JBAA, the Canadian career Test try scoring leader, did not play due to injury, or that veteran JBAA scrum-half Phil Mack of Victoria also did not play because of a family matter.
Connor Braid of Victoria, another JBAA product, started at inside centre for sa国际传媒. Former University of Victoria Vikes star and now Cornish Pirates pro, Brett Beukeboom, captained sa国际传媒.
The Castaway Wanderers of Oak Bay were represented through current and former players Ray Barkwill, Jake Ilnicki and Ciaran Hearn starting for sa国际传媒, as did former Cowichan and JBAA star Aaron Carpenter.
