UNITED STATES聽 47
CANADA聽 19
Once considered a walkover for sa国际传媒 in rugby, the United States has become a tough out. So much so that the Eagles have supplanted sa国际传媒 as the dominant North American nation in the sport.
The Langford-based Canadian team鈥檚 47-19 loss to the U.S. to open the Pacific Nations Cup on Saturday in Denver must be seen against that backdrop.
The only mitigating factor is sa国际传媒鈥檚 short time together as a team.
The 31-player Canadian roster for the PNC was announced last week during a news conference on Bear Mountain. This month is the first time all of sa国际传媒鈥檚 top pros, both from overseas and Major League Rugby, have been together since the last-chance World Cup qualifier in November in Marseille, France.
鈥淚f you count our training hours together with the actual starting group [in Denver], it鈥檚 been not too many days,鈥� Canadian head coach Kingsley Jones said.
But that point only goes so far, he added.
鈥淚 expected us to be a little bit untidy and messy, but I didn鈥檛 expect a scoreline like that, of course, because it is a Test match at the end of the day,鈥� Jones said.
The bench boss pointed to a 鈥渄ecent鈥� Canadian scrum on the day. But other aspects of the game need improvement.
鈥淲e won only one lineout,鈥� Jones noted.
鈥淎t the Test level, we need to get our lineout accuracy improved. And they kicked smarter than us, and that鈥檚 where the big deficit in the score comes from.鈥�
But such scorelines are becoming a familiar refrain in this rivalry. The U.S. defeated sa国际传媒 in the two-game, aggregate direct continental qualifier for the 2019 World Cup in Japan and also qualified directly for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics in sevens by finishing this World Series season in the top four.
sa国际传媒 is headed to both the World Cup and Olympics, but through backdoor routes.
The world No. 21-ranked Canadians were looking to reset their rugby relationship with the No. 15 Americans and make it right Saturday. But that ferry, historically, may have already left the dock.
The Pacific Nations Cup is to prepare the rim countries for the World Cup. sa国际传媒 continues against host Fiji in Suva on Aug. 2 and against Tonga in Lautoka, Fiji, on Aug. 8.
sa国际传媒 also has pre-World Cup matches lined up against Irish provincial power Leinster on Aug. 24 at Tim Hortons Field in Hamilton, Ont., against the sa国际传媒 All-Stars Aug. 30 at Westhills Stadium in Langford and against the U.S. again Sept. 7 at sa国际传媒 Place.
鈥淵ou can feel everything is building to the World Cup,鈥� said veteran Canadian player Lucas Rumball, before the game.
鈥淏ut the first challenge is the Pacific Nations Cup to get certain things worked out and to get us working together.鈥�
Andrew Quattrin and Peter Nelson earned their first caps for sa国际传媒 on Saturday.
