Canada secures World Cup spot

Playing with only 14 players for three-quarters of the match, the U.S. Men’s National Rugby Team struggled to stick to its pattern and fell to the Canadians, 41-18, in the second game of their home-and-away Rugby World Cup Qualifying series in Edmonton on Saturday.

Even though the U.S. beat Canada, 12-6, on its home turf last week, Canada wins the point differential overall and clinches the Americas 1 spot in Pool A of the Rugby World Cup in 2011. The Eagles, on the other hand, will now look to play Uruguay, the winner of the South American Qualification Playoff, in a two-game series to determine the Americas 2 qualifying side. Those match details have yet to be set.

"We are obviously very disappointed," Eagles head coach Eddie O’Sullivan said.

"We played undisciplined in the first half and made some mistakes that Canada was able to capitalize on. We let the game get away from us early on and struggled to keep shape. We played better in the second half, but by that point we were chasing the game and forcing things a bit."

A frustrating match from beginning to end for the Americans, as it opened with the wrong national anthem and saw the team singing it to themselves as they circled up prior to the match. The U.S. Team would go on to allow 24 unanswered points in the first half alone, digging itself into a hole too deep to come back from.

Although the U.S. looked to be the better team from the initial kick-off, they started veering from the game plan at around the 10th minute when they began making some unnecessary penalties that would cost them almost immediately.

By the 14th minute, Canada’s James Pritchard would earn back-to-back attempts at the posts, and although the first would just bounce off one of the uprights, his second from the other side of the field would give the Canadians a three point lead.

The U.S. would maintain some pattern early on, gaining valuable territory off strategically placed kicks and continuing a very aggressive attack. But, when the U.S. got its first decent look at some open space, they mishandled a pass that ended up in DTH van der Merwe’s hands and before the U.S. could counter, the Canadians had raced down the sideline and Pritchard was touching it down for Canada’s first try of the match.

A penalty shortly thereafter at about midfield and the USA’s Paul Emerick would be handed a red card and sent off for the remainder of the match. Canada would quickly use that to their advantage and the Eagles would find themselves on their back foot for the remainder of the half.

Five minutes later, in the 32 minute, Canada’s Adam Kleeberger would see some space and run through the U.S. defense for the Canadian’s second try of the game. 

With the momentum fully shifted to Canada’s side, the U.S. made another handling error, giving the ball to winger Justin Mensah-Coker, who had an open field and 30 meters to run before touching down the third try for Canada. Following the conversion, the whistle blew for halftime with the U.S. down 24-0.

After a chance to regroup at half, the U.S. looked more composed in the second. Finally, after allowing 10 minutes to tick off the clock, the U.S. would find itself within striking distance and Canada would earn their own yellow card, giving the U.S. the opportunity to slot the easy three and play evenly with only 14 on both sides.

Unfortunately, Canada would bounce back quickly and a missed tackle by the U.S. would give Canada’s scrumhalf the opportunity to touch one down under the posts. Pritchard converted and the scoreboard read 31-3 with under 30 minutes to go.

Minutes later and the U.S. was finally able to utilize its set piece. Following a successful lineout within Canada’s 22, the ball was dished out to Kevin Swiryn, who ran up the middle for the USA’s first try of the game. Mike Hercus converted and the U.S. found itself slowly cracking away at the lead, trailing 31-10 with just under 60 minutes left.

In a race with the clock, the USA would see another penalty attempt in the 66th minute and easily slot that one through. But, with the very next possession, Canada would make a perfectly placed chip kick to the opposite corner and van der Merwe would touch down his first try of the day, sealing the deal for Canada in the 70th minute.

Both teams wouldn’t ease up, though, and winger Matt Evans would make it look easy running in Canada’s final try just minutes later. The USA’s Todd Clever would have the last say, however, when he saw some space on the outside and scored one for the U.S. in the 75th minute.

"We let them have a sniff and they took it,”"Clever said following the match.

"They fed off our mistakes and it’s very disappointing to lose like that. This feeling is fresh in our mind now and we have made a promise to ourselves that we will use this to fuel our preparations for Uruguay. We can either let this get us down or make us better, and we've all vowed to do the latter."

The Scorers:

Canada
Tries: Pritchard, Kleeberger, Mensah-Coker, Fairhurst, van der Merwe, Evans
Con: Pritchard 4
Pen: Pritchard

USA
Tries: Swiryn, Clever
Con: Hercus
Pen: Hercus 2