Canada’s Men’s Rugby Team concludes tour in Fiji and Tonga
Rugby 15s Senior Men
Canada’s Men’s Rugby Team’s tour in Fiji and Tonga came to a close on Tuesday afternoon at Teufaiva Stadium in Nuku’alofa, with Canada losing 36-12 to Tonga in their second of two test matches.
Canada’s Men’s Rugby Team’s tour in Fiji and Tonga came to a close on Tuesday afternoon at Teufaiva Stadium in Nuku’alofa, with Canada losing 36-12 to Tonga in their second of two test matches.
Tonga scored four tries in the first half, taking a 26-0 lead over Canada at half-time. The Ikale Tahi scored again to open the second half, but after spending several phases inside Tonga’s 22m line, a kick from Robbie Povey into the corner was corralled by Isaac Olson in the 65th minute for Canada’s first try of the match.
Tonga responded with another try of their own. Olson scored once more however, sidestepping an incoming Tongan player and diving over the line in the 78th minute, his try converted by Peter Nelson. The final whistle blew shortly after, with Tonga taking the win 36-12.
“Tonga paid us a lot of respect by starting with such a strong team, particularly in terms of their front row. Unless you’re technically bang on in a game of this level with a team of that physical size, you’re going to struggle. We struggled with the collisions, we struggled with our maul,” said Head Coach Kingsley Jones. “We talked at half-time about trying to win the second half. Small wins for us all the time. In that half we won 12-10, and we’re very pleased with that. We’ve got to keep building. It’s unfortunate that we haven’t got a game next week, because we feel we get better and better.”
University of Victoria player Gabe Casey entered the match in the second half at center to earn his first cap for Canada’s Men’s Rugby Team.
This match capped off three weeks in the South Pacific, which started with a 12-day training camp in Nadi, Fiji. Shortly following a training scrimmage with the Fijian Drua academy (Fiji’s Super Rugby team), Canada’s Men’s Rugby Team flew to Tonga for two test matches, which are amongst the first to be hosted in the country since 2017 and the first test matches Canada’s Men’s Rugby Team has played since November 2022. Tonga won the first game on August 10 by a score of 28-3.