Canada recorded a morale-boosting 28-22 win over the United States in a World Cup warm-up clash in Toronto.
The hosting Canucks opened the scoring in the sixth minute with turnover ball seeing new London Irish signing, Jebb Sinclair, going over the line.
Eddie O'Sullivan's side hit back immediately though and scored fifteen points in a good spell. Takudzwa Ngwenya was continually a threat.
Canadian winger James Pritchard made the game 15-10 with a penalty and more followed.
Second-half scores by Phil Mackenzie and Ed Fairhurst, along with Pritchard's boot ensured victory on home soil for Canada.
Todd Clever scored two tries for the States and will get the chance to exact revenge over Canada when these two nations meet again next week.
The scorers:
For Canada:
Tries: Sinclair, Mackenzie, Fairhurst
Con: Pritchard 2
Pen: Pritchard 3
For USA:
Tries: Ngwenya, Clever 2
Con: Malifa, Enosa
Pen: Mififa
Canada: 15 Matt Evans, 14 Phil Mackenzie, 13 DTH van der Merwe, 12 Mike Scholz, 11 James Pritchard, 10 Ander Monro, 9 Ed Fairhurst, 8 Aaron Carpenter, 7 Chauncey O'Toole, 6 Jebb Sinclair, 5 Jamie Cudmore, 4 Brian Erichsen, 3 Jason Marshall, 2 Pat Riordan, 1 Hubert Buydens.
Replacements: 16 Ryan Hamilton, 17 Scott Franklin, 18 Tyler Hotson, 19 Adam Kleeberger, 20 Sean White, 21 Ryan Smith, 22 Ciaran Hearn.
USA: 15 Blaine Scully, 14 Takudzwa Ngwenya, 13 Paul Emerick, 12 Andrew Suniula, 11 Kevin Swiryn, 10 Nese Malifa, 9 Mike Petri, 8 Nic Johnson, 7 Todd Clever, 6 Louis Stanfill, 5 Hayden Smith, 4 John van der Giessen, 3 Shawn Pittman, 2 Phillip Thiel, 1 Mate Moeakiola.
Replacements: 16 Chris Biller, 17 Eric Fry, 18 Inaki Basauri, 19 Jonathan 'JJ' Gagiano, 20 Tim Usasz, 21 Roland Suniula, 22 Tai Enosa.
Referee: Mark Lawrence (South Africa)
Comments
thewinger says...
5Lock4ward: Mate I am an American who have lived & played & coached the game in Canterbury for over 30 years trust me your call for Paterson to play 10 just because he has played super rugby is, well ridiculous. The guy has never played at first five
(as we call it) . You might as well go throw your hooker in their, it would have the same effect against top sides!
Hes a threequarter ( wing/outside center) thats where his skill set & experience lies. You cna't just throw someoen into the pivot position because they'v eplayed super 15. he played super 15 as an otuside back.
Posted 05:29 14th August 2011
KubilaKhan says...
I HATE MALIFA!!! He was a bum last year as well. If the US can fix the fly-half situation and work more on the scrums, they will be much better off. I say Wyles and Emerick at centers as well. But Malifa is by far the worst thing about that team, give him the boot Eddie you dope! Great stuff from Clever and Ngwenya (both world class) and Scully did fairly well barring that muck up near the end where he tried to dodge around near the try-zone. SUPPORT SUPPORT SUPPORT should be drilled into their heads!
Posted 17:38 09th August 2011
5Lock4ward says...
@pagra, apparently the US tried a quick throw in which was either mishandled by or bounced off of a US player and into the hands of the Canadian who thought he'd scored the first time. He obviously scored on the 2nd attempt. I find it rather pathetic how few cameras there were pitch side, that none of that play was caught on film and that there wasn't even a tv review official assigned to the match. They said Canada and the USA were being added to the regular test match fold, how about treating their matches w/ equal importance?
Posted 12:27 09th August 2011
5Lock4ward says...
Just had a chance to watch this match...where to begin? SOS Mike Hercus! The current US fly-half is God awful. Blaine Scully should play FB and when Wiles comes back from injury he should go to 13 (as he occasionally does for Saracens), move Emerick to 12. Based solely on the fact that Patterson plays Super Rugby in NZ he should become the Eagles 10 when he comes back from injury. The US front row was competitive but that said both they and Canada are far behind the top tier nations in that dept. Too bad the US let Corbisiero out of their grasp and into England's. Kicking game really let the Eagles down, both for points and for territory. It normally goes to the home team when Canada and the USA play so here's hoping next week in Colorado goes the Eagles' way.
Posted 16:17 08th August 2011
TOmike says...
Ngwenya's try was not a long run, but his speed was the factor. He broke through by stepping inside. Clever played really well too.
Two of the Canadian tries were fortuitous--one resulted from a bad quick throw-in near the line and the other when Malifa dropped the ball behind the tryline.
Posted 15:26 08th August 2011
NHsaints says...
Nice to see these teams warming up against other teams over similar standards...also well done canada...they're a much improving team...
Posted 17:39 07th August 2011
Jamie95 says...
i wonder what ngwenyas try was like
Posted 01:58 07th August 2011
looseheadcannon says...
Enjoy the RWC,Eddie O......it will be your last!
Posted 23:09 06th August 2011