Canada fall to Russia at Twin Elm

Full-time: Canada 20-43 Russia

Russia were simply too good for Canada on the day, the visitors running in six tries to claim a convincing win at Twin Elm Rugby Park. 

Canada was starved of the ball throughout the Test, and the dominant Russian scrum and set-piece ultimately proved too much for the inexperienced Canadian outfit, going down to Russia for the first time in Test Match history.

Russian 8th-man Anton Rudoi was the star of the show at Twin Elm, scoring three tries and claiming a well-deserved man-of-the-match award post-match. 

The first-half was all Russia. A brace of tries from Rudoi and two more from Vavilin and Mikhaltsov giving the away-team a comfortable 26-10 lead at the break. Luke Campbell scoring Canada's only try of the half, a powerful run from 10 yards out giving the home fans something to cheer about.

All hopes of comeback slowly faded as it took Russia less than two minutes to open the scoring in the second-half. Aleksei Mikhaltsov chasing down a Yuri Kushnarev kick and diving on the ball ahead of Andrew Ferguson to score his second of the game.

Anton Rudoi completed his hat-trick in the 54th minute, extending the visitors lead to 40-13 and leaving Canada with an uphill battle for the final twenty minutes. Canada's defence not at the level Kingsley Jones would expect.

The game continued in a similar fashion for the next fifteen minutes with Russia dominating at scrum time, even after having two players sent to the sin-bin for ten minutes. 

Nick Blevins finally gave the fans at Twin Elm something to cheer about when he dived over for Canada's second try of the afternoon in the 73rd minute. Shane O'Leary added the extras with a quick drop-kick but it would be a little to late as it finished: Canada 20-43 Russia.

Canada:
Tries - 33' Luke Campbell, 73' Nick Blevins
Conversions - Brock Staller (1), Shane O'Leary (1)
Penalties - 2' 46' Brock Staller (2)

Russia:
Tries - 10' 29' 54' Anton Rudoi (3), 20' Nikita Vavilin, 36' 41' Aleksei Mikhaltsov (2)
Conversions - Yuri Kushnarev (5)
Penalties - Yuri Kushnarev (1)

Canada roster to face Russia in Ottawa:

1. Noah Barker – James Bay AA/BC Bears (Courtenay, BC)
2. Ray Barkwill – Seattle Seawolves/Ontario Blues (Niagara Falls, ON)
3. Cole Keith – James Bay AA/Atlantic Rock (Sussex, NB)
4. Josh Larsen - Otago (Parksville, BC)
5. Evan Olmstead – Auckland/Prairie Wolf Pack (Vancouver, BC)
6. Dustin Dobravsky – Castaway Wanderers/BC Bears (Hanover, Germany)  
7. Lucas Rumball – Balmy Beach RFC/Ontario Blues (Mississauga, ON)
8. Luke Campbell – James Bay AA/BC Bears (Victoria, BC)
9. Andrew Ferguson – Oakville Crusaders/Ontario Blues (Mississauga, ON)
10. Theo Sauder – UBC Thunderbirds (Vancouver, BC)
11. Cole Davis – Calgary Saints/Prairie Wolf Pack (Calgary, AB)
12. Nick Blevins – Calgary Hornets/Prairie Wolf Pack (Calgary, AB)
13. Doug Fraser – Castaway Wanderers/BC Bears (Ladysmith, BC)
14. Jeff Hassler – Unattached/Prairie Wolf Pack (Okotoks, AB)
15. Brock Staller – Seattle Seawolves 
16. Eric Howard – New Orleans Gold/Ontario Blues (Ottawa, ON)
17. Djustice Sears-Duru – Unattached/Ontario Blues (Oakville, ON)
18. Ryan Kotlewski - Westshore RFC/Prairie Wolf Pack (Calgary, AB)
19. Conor Keys – UVIC Vikes/Atlantic Rock (Stittsville, ON)
20. Matt Heaton – Darlington Mowden Park/Atlantic Rock (Godmanchester, QC) 
21. Jorden Sandover-Best - UBC Old Boys/BC Bears (Abbotsford, BC)
22. Shane O’Leary – Ealing Trailfinders (Cork, Ireland)
23. Guiseppe du Toit - UVIC Vikes/BC Bears (Maple Ridge, BC)

Canada’s 2018 Summer Series:

June 9th
Canada 10 – 48 Scotland

June 16th
Canada 20-43 Russia

June 23rd
Canada vs. USA
Wanderers Ground
Halifax, NS
Kick off: 4pm local time (3pm ET/12pm PT)

Tickets for the 2018 Summer Series can be purchased by clicking here> https://rugby.ca/en/tickets    

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