When a national program in any sport is looking to the future, success at the Under-20 level is a critical harbinger. So it was not an auspicious outcome for the rebuilding Rugby sa国际传媒 program, based in Langford, as the U.S. bounced sa国际传媒 39-14 in Spartanburg, South Carolina, in the second game of the North American regional qualifier for the World Rugby U-20 Trophy 2023 to soundly win the two-game aggregate 82-35.
The U.S. won the first game 43-21 in Spartanburg on Tuesday.
“We are very disappointed with how the game went. We let ourselves down,” Canadian head coach Adam Roberts said in a statement, following the first game.
He said the Canadian players needed to be “drawing on our resiliency” for the second game Saturday. The Canadian players worked hard but were overwhelmed by a dominant American side. Noah Flesch from Langford-based Pacific Pride and Craig Mitchell-Hermann scored the Canadian tries while Owain Cormack of North Vancouver kicked two conversions.
Also on the Canadian side were University of Victoria Vikes’ Muiredach Casey, Taine Clague and Liam Poulton and Pacific Pride’s Flesch, James Thiel, James Clarke and Aaron Clark. The captain was Cole Kelly from Mississauga, Ont.
This U-20 program setback comes on the heels of sa国际传媒 failing to qualify for the senior men’s 2023 World Cup this year in France after having qualified for all previous World Cups. The program as then turned its focus to the U-23 and U-20 levels as it looks to rebuild for the 2027 World Cup in Australia.
But it’s the U.S. that will advance to Nairobi, Kenya, from July 15 to 30 for World Rugby U-20 Trophy 2023 after missing the last three Trophy competitions, which are held once every two years. sa国际传媒 was fifth in the last pre-pandemic World Rugby U-20 Trophy in 2019 in what was its ninth appearance in the world junior event.
The Trophy is the U-20 competition for second-tier rugby nations. The World Rugby U-20 Championship, the 2023 version June 24 to July 14 in Cape Town, Paarl and Stellenbosch, South Africa, is for the top-tier nations.
“As a nation, we have not qualified for the World Rugby Trophy since 2016, and getting back to that stage [was] our sole objective,” U.S. U-20 head coach Kyle Sumsion told World Rugby.
