It seemed an ambitious bit of scheduling, when first announced by Rugby sa国际传媒 in Langford, and it turned out to be just that.
Just four days after losing a tough Test against Six Nations side Ireland on Saturday at BMO Field in Toronto, the Canadian team jetted across both the continent and Pacific Ocean to play Japan on Wednesday in Nagoya.
The Japanese, who awaited sa国际传媒 after defeating Wales in a Test over the weekend at home, had enough energy to rally for a 16-13 victory.
鈥淲e fought hard under a short turn-around from Toronto. I鈥檓 really proud of our guys,鈥� said Canadian captain Aaron Carpenter, in a statement.
鈥淐redit to Japan 鈥� they played with a lot of heart today.鈥�
sa国际传媒, looking to clinch, instead fell to 3-1 in its final game of the 2013 Pacific Nations Cup. The Cup will be decided in the remaining games scheduled Sunday with Fiji (2-1) playing Tonga (2-1) and Japan (1-2) meeting the U.S. (0-3).
Ciaran Hearn, who plays for the Castaway Wanderers of Oak Bay, scored sa国际传媒鈥檚 lone try Wednesday against Japan. The Aussie-raised Canuck Jamie Pritchard, who on Saturday against Ireland surpassed Gareth Rees of Victoria as the all-time Canadian scorer in international play, moved his career points total to 499 with a convert and two penalty goals.
The Canadian players 鈥� except those headed to the IRB sevens World Cup next week in Moscow 鈥� return for a period of rest and training in Langford before the two-game, total-point 2015 World Cup qualifying set against the U.S. on Aug. 17 in Charleston, S.C., and Aug. 24 at BMO Field.
