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USA coach 'at a loss for words' after World Cup qualifying upset
While there’s no question that Canada are not quite the mid-tier rugby superpower of the past, they’ve proven that they’re still capable of footing with the tier-two big boys after scoring an important win in Saturday’s Rugby World Cup qualifier.
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Canada squared off with their traditional rivals, the USA, in Newfoundland and while they entered the game as rank outsiders, they pulled off a 34-21 comeback win in the first of a two-legged series to decide North America’s top seed for the remaining qualifying matches.
Canada were once far and away the top national side in North America – and second only to Argentina in the Americas region.
They’ve been a constant presence at the Rugby World Cup since the tournament’s inception in 1987, even making the quarter-finals of the 1991 competition in the United Kingdom.
Looking locally, until 2014, USA had only mustered 12 wins over Canada from 51 attempts.
Since then, however, there’s been a massive shift in the balance of power in North America. The Eagles had gone undefeated against the Canucks for seven years – until this weekend.
Without some of their foreign-based stars like Tyler Ardron, few expected Canada to be able to compete with their opposition – but that wasn’t the case at all.
USA struggled to find much continuity early in the game but looked to have the upper-hand at the set-piece, and held a 14-10 lead at halftime. From that point on, however, almost everything went the way of Canada – and they built an insurmountable 20-point lead.
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The Eagles did manage a late consolation try, which could prove important down the track.
Next weekend, the two sides will again square off – this time in America – with the overall winner of the two-match series (based on wins, then points differential) progressing through to face Uruguay to decide which side will qualify for the Rugby World Cup as Americas 1.
?? @RugbyCanada has picked up a 34-21 victory over their North American rivals, @USARugby in the first leg of @rugbyworldcup qualification to decide the @RugbyAmericasN #1 seed.
It's their first win over the Eagles since 2012. @usmlr #RWC2023 pic.twitter.com/9Ge45iVStc
— The Rugby Network (@therugbynetwork) September 4, 2021
The losing side still has a shot at qualifying, however, but the pathway becomes considerably more convoluted.
“[I’m] pretty much at a loss for words,” said Eagles coach Gary Gold after the game. “[It was a] completely and totally unacceptable performance. Very disappointing considering we had a very good start.
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“We were dominant at the set piece against these guys and ultimately we were the masters of our own destiny. This was 100% our own doing.
“The challenge has been laid. We knew that this was going to be a very good Canadian team. And they came out and proved it. Just really disappointing all around and we’ve got our work cut out for us. We have to step up to the plate next week if we want to be serious about qualifying for Rugby World Cup.”
Canada coach Kingsley Jones was cautiously optimistic after the surprise win.
“We have a 13-point lead at the moment and 80 minutes to play. Would I have signed for that this morning? I probably would have,” he said.
“We’ll take that but we know it’s going to be a different challenge next week, a big challenge. We need to make sure we enjoy the win because they’re few and far between with the level of teams that we’ve been playing recently, and we can take some confidence from it.”
Comments on RugbyPass
Je suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
1 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusades , you can keep going.
1 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
25 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
25 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
25 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
25 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
11 Go to commentsYes Sir! Surprising, just like Fraser would also have escaped sanction if he was a few inches lower, even if it was by accident that he missed! Has there really been talk about those sanctions or is this just sensational journalism? I stopped reading, so might have missed any notations.
11 Go to comments