Fiji again proved the gap between the world top-10 and the second-tier is massive in rugby.
The No. 10 Fijians, far too fast and elusive, ran across nine tries and blitzed No. 21 sa国际传媒 57-17 Saturday in a neutral-site Test match played at Narbonne in the south of France.
The Canadian players who don鈥檛 play pro are based in Langford and they return to Westhills Stadium with plenty to ponder as they prepare for the Americas two-game, total-point sa国际传媒-Uruguay set Jan. 27 at sa国际传媒 Place and Feb. 3 in Montevideo. The winner will advance to the 2019 World Cup in Japan.
Heading into Saturday, coach Kingsley Jones said his Canadian team 鈥淸needed] a really good performance against Fiji to stand us in good stead for the Uruguay games.鈥�
Something must have got lost in translation as sa国际传媒 took a step back after its encouraging 37-27 win over No. 20 Spain last week in Madrid ended a nine-game Test winless streak that dated back to its previous victory on Feb. 11 at Westhills Stadium over Chile.
The win over Spain was a mild statement. sa国际传媒 hoped to make a major one against Fiji. Instead, the Canadians fell to 4-9 all-time against the Fijians, who were themselves coming off Test losses to No. 4 Ireland and No. 13 Italy.
Jones is a Welshman who took the Canadian job after building the Russian national team to where it is now No. 19 in the world. He celebrated his first Canuck Test victory at Madrid, but is now 1-3 with sa国际传媒, following a 51-9 loss Nov. 3 against the New Zealand Maori All Blacks at sa国际传媒 Place before a Canadian rugby record crowd of 29,480 and a 54-22 loss to No. 12 Georgia two weeks ago in Tbilisi.
sa国际传媒 had a penalty try against Fiji and Djustice Sears-Duru scored the other Canadian try. Centres DTH van der Merwe of Victoria and Taylor Paris of Barrie, Ont., who both play professionally in Europe and accounted for four tries between them against Spain, were held in check by the Fijians. As was London Irish pro Ciaran Hearn, the former star with the Castaway Wanderers of Oak Bay, who also started in the backfield. sa国际传媒 was captained by veteran scrum-half Phil Mack of Victoria. Up front, Josh Larsen from Parksville started in the second row and former University of Victoria Vikes and Castaway Wanderers star Jake Ilnicki, now a pro with Newcastle, started in the front row.
The Fiji fixture ended the November Test window for sa国际传媒. The next Tests for sa国际传媒 will be the crucial Americas World Cup qualifiers against Uruguay early next year.
This is the first time sa国际传媒, beaten by the U.S. Eagles over the summer, has failed to advance to the World Cup directly out of the North American qualifier. Uruguay is No. 18, but sa国际传媒 has historically been the stronger rugby nation and the pressure is now definitely building as increasingly concerned Canadian supporters will be expecting victory to keep alive sa国际传媒鈥檚 record of never having missed qualifying for a World Cup.
Meanwhile, England defeated a young Canadian side 69-19 in a women鈥檚 Test match played Saturday at Twickenham.
