Canada Classics Defeat Classic Lions; Lose to Argentina; Face USA in Final Match
The Canada Classics are making their annual tour to Bermuda to play in the World Classics tournament. They defeated the Lions in their opening match and then lost to Argentina in their 2nd match, they’ll finish up against USA on Friday. There’s also a four team 7s tournament on Wednesday.
There’s some familiar names on the team, Aaron McLelland is making a name for himself at this level and made the news in the local press for his performance, “Fly half Aaron McLelland was outstanding for the Canadians, with his individual brilliance on display in the two tries he scored to see off the determined Lions.” Other familiar names include Oliver Atkinson, Kyle Baillie, Derek Daypuck, Tom Dolezel, Marco di Girolamo, Bryn Keys, James Kelly, Chris Robinson, John Humphries, John Moonlight, Mike Nieuwenhuysen, Jeremiah Nikkel. All have played in the BC Premier at some point in time and several were in BC Premier rosters last weekend.
Tournament Schedule
November 1st – 7th
GATES OPEN EVERY EVENING AT 5:30PM AND AT 12:30PM ON SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 2ND
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 1st
7PM ARGENTINA LEGENDS VS ITALIAN CLASSIC XV
8:30PM CLASSIC CANADA VS CLASSIC LIONS
10PM KICK-OFF PARTY WITH WORKING TITLE AND DJ SMOKEY
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 2nd – FAMILY DAY
1:30PM BERMUDA MINI RUGBY
3:30PM CLASSIC USA VS SOUTH AFRICA RUGBY
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 4th
7PM ARGENTINA LEGENDS VS CLASSIC CANADA
8:30PM ITALIAN CLASSIC XV VS CLASSIC EAGLES
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 5th
6:15PM ARGENTINA 7S VS USA 7S (A)
6:45PM CANADA 7S VS ITALY 7S (B)
7:30PM WINNER A VS WINNER B
8PM SOUTH AFRICA RUGBY VS CLASSIC LIONS
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 7th
6PM CLASSIC CANADA VS CLASSIC EAGLES
7:30PM CLASSIC LIONS VS ITALIAN CLASSIC XV
9PM ARGENTINA LEGENDS VS SOUTH AFRICA RUGBY
CLOSING PARTY WITH WORKING TITLE AND DJ SMOKEY
Results
NOVEMBER 1ST
Argentina Legends 12 – Italian Classic XV 0
Classic Canada 24 – Classic Lions 19
NOVEMBER 2ND
South Africa Legends 44 – Classic Eagles 3
NOVEMBER 4TH
Italy 28 – USA 20
Argentina 21 – Canada 13
Canada Roster
Match Reports from Royal Gazette
Argentina Legends 21 Classic Canada 13
Argentina shot to the top of the World Rugby Classic standings after a come-from-behind triumph over Canada at the National Sports Centre last night.
It was the second victory of the tournament for the Argentinians, which moved them on to eight points, three more than champions South Africa, who face the Lions tonight.
Two tries, one conversion and three penalty goals secured the win for Argentina, with Canada scoring a converted try and two penalty goals.
Federico Castilla, the Argentinian captain, was delighted to hold off a determined Canadian side.
“We are so happy with the result,” he told The Royal Gazette.
“The play was fantastic and it was great to play a beautiful game in front of a good crowd. Now we get to rest and prepare for a hard game against South Africa.”
Canada coach Garth Cooke, who was seeking to build on the 24-19 triumph over Classic Lions on Saturday, felt his side threw away the match after holding the lead for the better part of the encounter.
“We really let ourselves down,” he said.
“They didn’t win it, we lost it. The same team that showed up on Saturday night didn’t show up tonight.
“We weren’t playing to our game plan and were a bit fragmented, a bit flat. Our communication was low and the guys were waiting for them to come to us, instead of us going to them in defence and on offence.
“We’re going to take that and turn things around. We’re going to come back Friday night, all pistons firing to make a statement.
“The boys are hurting and we’re still going to have a good time, but tomorrow and the next few days we’re going to really work hard to bring a better product on Friday night.”
Argentina drew first blood when Martin Nunez booted a penalty seven minutes into the match.
Canada hit back with a try by fly half Aaron McLelland, who skipped through the Argentina defence to score under the posts. Full back Jeremiah Nikkel added the extras with a successful conversion.
Nikkel maintained his composure in front of the poles to kick two penalties for the Canadians to lead 13-3 at the break.
Nunez reduced the deficit with two penalties at the start of the second half before a well-executed maul resulted in Agustin Costa going over the line for Argentina’s first try, which was converted by Nunez.
Another controlled drive, this time from a lineout, resulted in prop Leandro Urriza barging over the line for Argentina’s second five-pointer and the match ended with Argentina on the charge as they sought a third try, only for the ball to be lost forward.
In the second match of the night, Italian Classic XV defeated Classic Eagles 28-20 to pick up their first win of the tournament. The Americans, who lost to South Africa on Sunday, are still yet to taste victory.
As one of the four teams playing sevens tonight as a precursor to the match between South Africa and Lions, Canada have a chance to clinch some silverware.
A second win of the tournament for the Springboks would nicely set up their eagerly anticipated showdown with the Pumas on Friday night to decide the winners of the tournament.
“We are playing tomorrow,” the Canada coach said.
“It would be nice for us to win the sevens, but our main reason for coming here is to win the tournament, that’s our primary focus.”
Classic Canada 24 – Classic Lions 19
In matches played on Saturday, the first day of the tournament, Argentina Legends defeated Italian Classic 12-0 while Classic Canada saw off Classic Lions 24-19.
Fly half Aaron McLelland was outstanding for the Canadians, with his individual brilliance on display in the two tries he scored to see off the determined Lions.
Canada enjoyed a 17- 7 lead going into half-time. The Lions fought back with 12 unanswered points to go 19-17 in front, before McLelland ensured the Canadians victory.
New format for World Rugby Classic
Argentina Legends, Classic Canada, Classic Eagles, Italian Classic, Classic Lions and champions Classic Springboks will play three matches each from November 1 to 8, with the team topping the league declared winners of the tournament.
A final between the top teams from two groups of four used to decide the champions but John Kane, president of the tournament, cited a reduction in the number of teams as the main reason for implementing the new format.
“We changed the format from knockouts to round-robin due to the teams being down from eight to six,” Kane told The Royal Gazette.
“It’s on a league basis and each team was seeded based on past results. We divided them into two groups and everybody gets to play somebody in each group.
“A team will get four points for a win, a bonus point for scoring four tries and for losing by less than seven points. After all the teams have played three matches each, the team with the most points is our winner.
“The Irish team dropped out very early on but we couldn’t go with seven, so we had to reduce the teams to six.
“When the Irish pulled out, we had to make a decision between Italy and France. In the end, the Italians remained and the French are out this year, but they’ll be back next year.
“We’ll try to find somebody else next year to take the number back to eight. If it’s not the Irish or New Zealand, we’ll find somebody to bring them back up.”
Another notable addition is the introduction of sevens rugby on November 5. The four teams not in action on that day are playing in the fast-paced version, where they have an opportunity to claim silverware.
“Because we’ve only got one game on Wednesday night, we put in a sevens tournament to be played between the other four teams,” Kane said.
“The four teams that are not playing that night are basically the teams that are playing for the sevens trophy.
“We’ll have a knockout for that, with the winners of the two matches to play in the final for the trophy.”