Canada’s Men’s Rugby Team loses to Chile in first of two matches in Romania
Rugby 15s Senior Men
Canada’s Men’s Rugby Team lost 44-14 to Chile on Saturday in their first of two matches in Bucharest, Romania.
Canada’s Men’s Rugby Team lost 44-14 to Chile on Saturday in their first of two matches in Bucharest, Romania.
It was a busy opening 11 minutes, which started with Chile scoring off kick-off to take an early 5-0 lead. Penalties to Chile gave Canada two opportunities to kick for points, with Peter Nelson putting Canada up 6-5. Chile retook the lead in the 11th minute however, converting their try to go up 12-6.
Chile furthered their lead in the 25th minute, while a third penalty kick from Nelson right before half-time put the score at 19-9.
Chile opened the second half as they did the first, increasing their lead to 26-9 with their first of four consecutive tries. Up 41-9 in the 65th minute, Chile added three more points with a penalty kick.
A yellow card was assessed to Andrew Quattrin in the 68th minute, but despite being down a player, captain Lucas Rumball got Canada points on the board one last time, receiving the ball from Cooper Coats for a try out wide.
“We knew it would be physical. There were a number of head collisions, that shook us a little bit, rattled us. But it’s how we react to that, and how we respond to that, and we’ve got to be better. Ultimately test match rugby is about contact areas and collisions, and Chile came out on top in that area,” said Head Coach Kingsley Jones.
“We gifted four tries from open play, that’s the disappointing part. We worked very, very hard, but we never had field position. It shows that to be able to get field position, to be able to win collisions, get game line, is really important. To score a try at the end, keep working, the replacements that came on—looking at positives, the guys that came on, they did a good job, they put their hand up.”
Noah Flesch earned his first cap as Canada’s starting inside centre, playing alongside brother Mason Flesch.
Canada’s Men’s Rugby Team will face Romania next, on Saturday November 16 at 8:00am PT / 11:00am ET / 6:00pm local time in Bucharest. Information on how to follow will be announced shortly.