CANADA 22 CHILE 21
Rob Povey hit a penalty goal at the death, amid a deafening din created by more than 4,000 fans at Starlight Stadium, to give sa国际传媒 a dramatic 22-21 World Cup qualifying victory over Chile on Saturday night.
But will it be enough to keep alive sa国际传媒鈥檚 streak of appearing in all nine previous Rugby World Cups? That will be answered in the second leg of the tie next Saturday in Valparaiso, Chile.
The loser on aggregate score will be eliminated. The winner of sa国际传媒-Chile will advance to play the loser of a set between the United States and Uruguay. The winner of U.S.-Uruguay will clinch a World Cup berth.
Chile, which has never played in the World Cup, stunned sa国际传媒 with a staunch goal-line defence that denied a pressing Canadian side time and again.
鈥淚 thought we controlled, but credit to Chile. They got what they wanted by chipping away,鈥� said sa国际传媒 head coach Kingsley Jones.
鈥淲e didn鈥檛 capitalize on position and left 16 to 20 points on the field. It鈥檚 a big challenge next week.鈥�
Ross Braude scored two tries for sa国际传媒. 鈥淭here鈥檚 a lot of fixing to do but we鈥檙e ready for the challenge,鈥� said the scrum-half from the Toronto Arrows of Major League Rugby.
鈥淲e showed a lot of character to pull this out. We鈥檙e ready to get down there for the second game.鈥�
Chile was ecstatic with the result.
鈥淲e came to do this. It was through hard work and consistency and believing in our dreams,鈥� said captain Martin Sigren, a flanker with Old Boys of Santiago.
sa国际传媒 is under no illusions of the task ahead.
鈥淲e have to take a hard look in the mirror and have to execute under pressure,鈥� said captain Lucas Rumball.
鈥淲e鈥檝e shown we can do it before. It鈥檚 all about getting it right and, hopefully, we鈥檒l get to play again in sa国际传媒.鈥�
But there鈥檚 little doubt world No. 28 Chile, which led 9-5 at the half, shook Canadian rugby to its core in Langford.
鈥淐redit to Chile. They had a lot of emotion coming into this game,鈥� said Rumball, who plays for the Arrows in MLR when not captaining world No. 21 sa国际传媒.
鈥淏ut credit to our boys, too, to finish off a tight game like we did.鈥�
But the question remains, will it be enough?
