Canada’s Men’s Rugby Team closes out 2024 with loss to Romania

Canada’s Men’s Rugby Team played their last test match of 2024 on Saturday in Bucharest, losing 35-27 to Romania.

Andrew Coe nearly scored in the opening minutes, but Canada’s first points came instead in the 13th minute thanks to a penalty try, going up 7-0.

Romania edged closer to Canada with two penalty kicks, but a penalty kick from Peter Nelson furthered Canada’s lead to 10-6.

A yellow card to Coe gave Romania the player advantage 30 minutes in, and despite a strong defensive effort from Canada, Romania scored their first try of the game. They quickly added another to take an 18-10 lead.

Nelson added another three points for Canada just before half-time with a good penalty kick, putting the score at 18-13 for Romania at the break.

Romania started the second half off strong, furthering their lead to 25-13 with a try in the first two minutes. Not long after, Romania was assessed a yellow card.

Canada got back on the board, calling for a scrum eight metres out from Romania’s goal line, resulting in a try from captain Lucas Rumball. Converted by Nelson, Canada got to within five points of Romania, 25-20. However, Romania responded with another try of their own, which they were unable to convert.

Siôn Parry scored his first career try for Canada in the 54th minute, with Nelson kicking another good conversion to put the score at 30-27 for Romania.

Romania’s Jason Tomane was assessed a 20 minute red card, but it was Romania who had the last word, scoring once more to put the final score at 35-27 for the Oaks.

“It was a real tough test. It was what we expected. Proud of my players in terms of their application to a test match. A tough stadium, tough physicality, and I thought they did really well,” said Head Coach Kingsley Jones.

“We started well with our line of defence, but allowed Romania to get some momentum through the maul as the game went on. Our backs look dangerous when we get quick ball, but at times we made an error, lost ball, missed pass.

“Lots of learnings for us of course, things we can do better to close out test matches. But I’d like to say congratulations to Romania and we’ll move forward, take the learnings, and look forward to next year’s Rugby World Cup qualification.”

Rhys James, Jesse Kilgour and Sam Miller all earned their first caps for Canada, entering the match in the second half.

With their win, Romania claimed the new Cernavodă Cup, a perpetual trophy that will be contested every time that Canada’s Men’s Rugby Team and Romania play.