It was a strong win by the Canada U20 men’s team who went 2-1 at the Oceania U20 tournament defeating Samoa and Tonga. There were 8 separate try scorers in the match with Liam James notching the double. Liam is the son of Canada rugby great Mike James who the announcer called, “the greatest player of Canada rugby of all time” on Liam’s second try (see video highlight below).
It could have been worse, Canada were down 42-0 at 35 minutes into the first half and a point per minute 80-0 hiding wasn’t out of the question. Fiji were playing a high tempo game and Canada didn’t have their heads in the game. Fortunately half time was coming up, a time to regroup, and make some changes. It was a good time for Josh McIndoe to insert himself into the match, picking up an errant Fiji pass that went to ground and take it to the try line. Canada at least finished the half on a high note, down now only 42-7.
It was a good result for Canada, exceeded expectations I would say based on U20 results in recent years. Samoa are ranked #14 in the world, Canada #24, so there’s some hope in the young players coming through. The match was in the balance in the first half, the commentator remarked how the lead had changed 6 times.
May 24th 1987 was Canada’s 1st Rugby World Cup match. The game was against Tonga and Canada won 37-4, it was played in Napier, NZ in front of 7,000 fans. A try was worth 4 points then so Canada scored 7 tries to Tonga’s 1, Canada added 3 conversions and 1 penalty. Scoring for Canada were winger Pat Palmer of UBCOB (2T), centre Paul Vaesen of JBAA (2T), Rowers Ian Stuart at centre (1T), CW’s Flanker Rob Frame (1T) and a penalty try. Converting was CW’s Gareth Rees (1C), and JBAA’s (later Velox) fullback Mark Wyatt (2C). Gareth Rees also added a penalty.
The Canada U20 team won a close 26-22 contest over the Island XV. The U20 went ahead early after a blocked clearing kick from inside the Island 22, notch that one up to good defensive line speed and perhaps some shoddy clearance work from the Island XV. The Island responded with two tries, both unconverted, to go ahead 10-5. The grass was wet from day long rain and handling errors were mounting up, leading to scores. The U20 responded with two tries of their own, converted, 19-10. A great solo effort by inside centre Josh McIndoe extended the U20 lead to 26-10. The Island scored the last two tries to close the gap to 26-22.
Rugby Canada have completed the announcement of their summer/fall schedule for the men’s XVs team with the Canada v USA fixture in Calgary on August 22nd. That will give them 5 games between July and September, possibly 6 if they finish in the top 4 at the Pacific Nations. World Rugby have also announced the full schedule for the Pacific Nations. Both reports are listed below.
Coach Christiaan Esterhuizen has selected 32 players to make the trip to Fiji in May/June to play Samoa, Fiji and Tonga. There is no JWRT U20 championship this year, and there’s been no mention from World Rugby on what future plans are for U20 programs outside of the Tier 1 nations who are holding their Junior World U20 Championships in June/July in Italy.
If you’re not a regular starter in MLR, can you be considered an automatic for Canada selection? That’s a valid question as Canada looks towards its World Cup qualifier this year. If you’re good enough to get a regular starting slot in MLR, it’s likely you’ll be in contention for national team match selection but that introduces a problem as Canada doesn’t have MLR starters in several key position, the halfbacks, an openside flanker, the centres.
The Canada men’s XVs team will host Belgium and Spain at Edmonton’s Clarke Stadium in July. It will be Canada vs Belgium on Saturday July 12th and then Canada v Spain on Friday July 18th.
The Canada men’s U20 camp wrapped up on Sunday with an inter-squad match. Some comments from those at the match indicate the game was played in good spirits with black scrum dominating in the first half.