CANADA 34 UNITED STATES 21
Eight is enough, as in years.
The Langford-based Canadian rugby team won its first game against the U.S. since 2013 with a 34-21 victory Saturday in St. John鈥檚, N.L., as Americas regional qualifying opened for the 2023 World Cup in France.
The Canadians will take a 13-point lead into the second leg of the two-game, total-point set next Saturday at Infinity Stadium in suburban Denver, Colorado.
鈥淭hat was a great win today. The players really put out. We鈥檒l celebrate the win, because it鈥檚 important, but we need some humility looking forward to next week,鈥� said Canadian head coach Kingsley Jones of Sooke.
鈥淲e鈥檝e got a 13-point lead at the moment and 80 minutes to play. Would I have signed on for that this morning? I probably would have. So we鈥檒l take that. But we know it鈥檚 going to be a different challenge next week, a big challenge.
鈥淲e need to enjoy the win because they are few and far between because of the level of teams we鈥檝e been playing recently [Tests against England and Wales over the summer]. We can take some confidence from the win.鈥�
The victory was thanks to a fierce second half after sa国际传媒 trailed 14-10 in a first half mired in sin bin trouble with two men sent off in the first 20 minutes. But the Canadians鈥� grit kept it close.
The highlight of the game came in the 68th minute when Brock Webster, showing his speed from the sevens version of the game, intercepted the ball deep in Canadian territory and ran nearly field length the other way for the converted try to make it 34-14. It remains to be seen if a late U.S. try in injury time at 82 minutes will come back to haunt sa国际传媒 in the rematch next weekend.
鈥淚t鈥檚 always a challenge playing these back-to-backs,鈥� acknowledged Jones.
Corey Thomas and veterans Ben LeSage and Lucas Rumball scored the other Canadian tries while Peter Nelsen kicked two penalties and four conversions.
鈥淲e had a dominant scrum and a message for next week,鈥� said Jones.
sa国际传媒 is 39-23-2 all-time against the U.S., but recently the Americans have been the dominant team. World No. 22 sa国际传媒 had not beaten the U.S. in their previous 12 meetings in going 0-11-1 against the world No. 16 Americans dating to 2013.
sa国际传媒 cannot rest easy. It opened qualifying for the 2019 World Cup in Japan with an encouraging 28-28 draw against the U.S. at Tim Hortons Field in Hamilton, Ont.
The second game of the total-points set was a disaster for sa国际传媒 as the Americans ran wild in a 52-16 trouncing in San Diego.
sa国际传媒 will continue World Cup qualifying Oct. 2 at Starlight Stadium in Langford against either Uruguay or Chile.
The winner of the U.S. versus sa国际传媒 total-points set will meet Uruguay at home on Oct. 2 (in sa国际传媒鈥檚 case, at Starlight Stadium) and in Montevideo on Oct. 9 with the winner of that set advancing to the World Cup 2023 France.
The loser of the sa国际传媒-U.S. set will face Chile on Oct. 2 at home (in sa国际传媒鈥檚 case, at Starlight Stadium) and Oct. 9 in Santiago with the loser of that eliminated and the winner staying alive and advancing to a repechage round.
