Canada’s Men’s Rugby Team loses to the USA in Los Angeles

Canada’s Men’s Rugby Team lost their second Pacific Nations Cup match on Saturday in Los Angeles, with the United States winning 28-15.

Peter Nelson opened scoring for Canada in the fourth minute, with a penalty kick from 48 metres out to go up 3-0. The United States responded in kind moments later, with a penalty kick from Luke Carty to tie the game.

Two tries by American Connor Mooneyham gave the United States a 10-point lead over Canada in the 15th minute. With back-to-back penalties to the USA, Canada went on the attack, stringing together several phases to create a prime scoring opportunity for Nic Benn. While the ball was held up on his first scoring attempt, Benn got Canada their first try in the 26th minute off the line-out, receiving a pass from Andrew Quattrin.

The USA regained their 10-point lead in the 37th minute, breaking through Canada’s defence to go up 18-8, a score they held through to half-time.  

“I think we had all the opportunity to score, to put points on the board. We just didn’t capitalize, whether that’s through detail or effort, we’re going to have to have a really hard look at it,” said captain Lucas Rumball. “We’ve just got to keep building. It’s easy probably to go into your shell and get disappointed about things. But it’s qualification next year, and that’s what we need to be building towards.”

Carty kicked a second penalty for the United States, taking advantage of a yellow card to Calixto Martinez in the 47th minute. Down a player, Canada was forced onto the defence; while it seemed that another American try was held up, the play was reviewed and deemed a good score.

Cooper Coats made an impact off the bench in the 60th minute, adding a second try to Canada’s score. A good conversion from Nelson put the game at 28-15, with neither team able to score through the final 20 minutes of play.

“We’ve got to start better than that and I think we’ve said that so many times. I thought it was a nervy start from us. There was a lot of unforced individual errors,” said Head Coach Kingsley Jones. “We said at half-time, the score is not an insurmountable amount of points to come back from. Had a positive chat and felt that we were frustrated because we were in the game and we had underperformed. The second half was about trying to fix those things.

“There’s positives to look at, but the change room is frustrated because we felt we underperformed and could have come away with the points. We’ve got to remember that feeling, we’ve got to move forward and look at how we prepare for the next one.”

With losses to both Japan and the United States, Canada’s Men’s Rugby Team finishes at the bottom of Pool B, and will now travel to Japan for their final match of the Pacific Nations Cup. The fifth place play-off will take place on Saturday September 14 in Tokyo, with Canada’s opponent still to be determined. More information about the Pacific Nations Cup can be found here.