Canada win in the rain
After two defeats in Japan's, Canada beat Russia in their historic encounter in the rain at Swangard Stadium in Burnaby, British Columbia on Saturday.
Historic? It was the first time the two countries had met on the rugby field.
Both teams sued the boot a lot in the rain in the first half, which ended 6-all with two penalties each by James Pritchard and Yuri Kushnarev.
More kicks took the score to 15-6, two penalties by Pritchard and a drop by Ander Monro from close quarters.
Canada attacked and from a line-out close in No.8 Aaron Carpenter forced his way over for the only try of the match. Pritchard kicked the difficult conversion. There was no further score in the last 15 minutes.
Canada capped four new players - Brian Erichsen, Mark MacSween, Mike Scholz and Tom Dolezel who all came off the bench in the second frame.
For Russia the trip to Canada has the advantage of preparing the team for the European Nations Cup and through it qualification for the World Cup in New Zealand. They are well placed to qualify for the first time.
Scorers:
For Canada:
Try: Carpenter
Con: Pritchard
Pens: Pritchard 5
For Russia:
Pens: Kushnarev 2
Teams:
Canada: 15 Nathan Hirayama, 14 Sean Duke, 13 Matt Evans, 12 James Pritchard, 11 Justin Mensah-Coker, 10 Ander Monro, 9 Sean White, 8 Aaron Carpenter, 7 Adam Kleeberger, 6 Chauncey O’Toole, 5 Tyler Hotson, 4 Jebb Sinclair, 3 Doug Wooldridge, 2 Pat Riordan (captain), 1 Kevin Tkachuk,
Replacements: 16 Mike Pletch, 17 Dan Pletch, 18 Tom Dolezel, 19 Brian Erichsen, 20 Mark MacSween, 21 Phil Mack, 22 Mike Scholz
Russia: 15 Igor Klyuchnikov, 14 Vasily Artemyev, 13 Mikhail Babaev, 12 Sergey Trishin, 11 Alexander Gvozdovskiy, 10 Yury Kushnarev, 9 Alexander Shakirov, 8 Alexey Panasenko, 7 Evgeny Marveev, 6 Victor Gresev, 5 Artem Fatakhov, 4 Alexander Voytov, 3 Evgeny Pronenko, 2 Vlad Korshunov (captain), 1 Alexander Khrokin,
Replacements: 16 Sergey Bazhenov, 17 Valdimir Botvinnikov, 18 Alexey Travkin, 19 Andrey Garbuzov, 20 Alexander Yanyushkin, 21 Alexey Koroberynikov, 22 Andrey Kuzin
Referee: Chris Henshall (US)
Assistant referees: Tom Lyons (USA), Davey Ardrey (USA)