It happened in men鈥檚 soccer, where the U.S. surpassed sa国际传媒, and in hockey, where they at least equalized. And now, it appears to be occuring in rugby, too.
The U.S. Eagles defeated the Langford-based Canadian national team 51-34 in an Americas Rugby Championship Test match Saturday evening before 3,416 fans at Swangard Stadium in Burnaby.
sa国际传媒 is 38-17-1 all-time in Tests against the U.S., but more immediately tellingly, the Eagles have won the last six consecutive meetings against the Canadians.
It is an especially ominous sign considering the U.S. and sa国际传媒 will meet in June in a two-game qualifier for the North American berth into the 2019 World Cup in Japan.
sa国际传媒 has never failed to qualify first out of North America for the World Cup, but those days might be numbered. The loser of the qualifier must go through an arduous repechage route through South America in order to get to World Cup 2019.
鈥淭he Americans fielded a more seasoned team and, it鈥檚 not an excuse, but we have a young squad that is learning,鈥� said veteran Phil Mack of Victoria, who started and scored a try Saturday for sa国际传媒.
鈥淏ut we know what we have to do for this summer and we are up for it.鈥�
The Americans took away sa国际传媒's home advantage early in building a 12-0 lead after six minutes and 15-0 before sa国际传媒 could answer.
鈥淲e started slow and allowed them two quick tries,鈥� said Mack, a product of Oak Bay High, UVic Vikes and James Bay.
鈥淲hen you put up 34 points, that鈥檚 usually good enough, but we had to play catch-up all game. They [Americans] carried the ball well and maintained their structure throughout the game.鈥�
Canadian coach Mark Anscombe concurred: 鈥淭hey were the better team. They protected the ball and attacked better than us. Conceding two tries that quick is not acceptable. It was just poor from us.鈥�
sa国际传媒 got two tries from French league pro Taylor Paris from Barrie Ont., and one each from Mack, Admir Cejvanovic and Duncan鈥檚 George Barton, a graduate of the Shawnigan Lake School Stags. Mike Te鈥檕 recorded the hat-trick of tries for the U.S.
sa国际传媒 is 1-2 in the Americas Championship after opening the tournament with a loss to Argentina XV and a victory over Chile, both at Westhills Stadium in Langford.
sa国际传媒 now closes out on the road with Test matches next Saturday against Uruguay in Montevideo and March 4 against Brazil at Sao Paulo.
