Canada squandered a first-half lead but reeled off 10 late points to tie the U.S. Eagles 28-28 on Saturday in the first leg of their Rugby World Cup qualifier.
A late Aaron Carpenter try and Shane O’Leary penalty pulled the Canadians even going into the return leg of the aggregate points series July 1 in San Diego.
A.J. MacGinty tried a dropped goal in the final minute to restore the U.S. lead but kicked wide. O’Leary then missed a long-range penalty to leave the score knotted.
Canada is currently ranked 23rd in the world, its lowest-ever ranking. The U.S. is 17th.
Canada got off to a roaring start and led 7-0 and 15-7, only to see the Americans pull ahead 21-15 with two tries late in the first half. While the Canadians managed to came at the U.S. in waves, they could not convert the chances.
The Americans, meanwhile, made the most of any openings created by Canadian mistakes. And there were a few.
Bad luck continued
A key moment came early in the second half with Canada trailing 21-18 but up a man with an American in the sin-bin. The Canadians were laying siege on the U.S. goalline after an American knock-on, only so see Mike Te’o intercept an O’Leary pass and race 80 metres for a try and a 28-18 lead.
The Canadian bad luck continued. Andrew Coe scored in the 62nd minute but the try was disallowed on video review after it was ruled he lost possession as he flew through the air in the process of touching the ball down.
A second American, Cam Dolan, was in the sin-bin at the time for collapsing a maul.
Carpenter, in his Canadian-record 78th appearance, did manage to touch down in the 70th minute and O’Leary converted to reduce the deficit to 28-25. O’Leary tied it with his 78th-minute penalty.
Co-captain DTH van der Merwe scored his 24th and 25 tries for Canada, breaking Winston Stanley’s 14-year-old national record of 24. Stanley scored his two dozen in 66 games, compared to 44 for van der Merwe.
O’Leary kicked three penalties and added two conversions on a warm but windy day before 13,187 at Tim Hortons Field.
Nick Civetta and Te’o each scored two tries for the U.S. MacGinty kicked four conversions.
Both teams were missing players with Jeff Hassler, Matt Evans, Conor Trainor and Lucas Rumball out injured for Canada. The Eagles were without Samu Manoa, Titi Lamositele, Greg Peterson, Zack Test and Blaine Scully among others.
The U.S. starting 15 had a combined cap count of just 260, with 74 of those coming from captain Todd Clever, who is retiring from international play after this series. Nine of the 15 had 10 caps or less.
The Canadian starting 15 had a combined 350 caps with only four having single-digit caps.
Pool C slot on the line
There were some early big hits with winger Taylor Paris crunching one American in a tackle.
Canada went ahead in the seventh minute on van der Merwe’s converted try but the U.S. tied it up immediately, taking advantage of a turnover on the ensuing kickoff.
Van der Merwe broke Stanley’s record in the 18th minute, bursting out of a ruck to give Canada a 12-7 lead. An O’Leary penalty increased the lead to 15-7.
The Eagles struck back in the 35th minute on a play triggered by a penalty for a Canadian high tackle. Instead of kicking for goal, the Americans went for touch and scored off a rolling maul from the ensuing lineout.
The Te’o go-ahead try down the right flank also came in the dying seconds of the half with the Welsh referee Ben Whitehouse playing advantage for a Canadian foul.
American hooker James Hilterbrand was yellow-carded in the 45th minute for a high tackle on Phil Mack, with O’Leary converting the penalty to cut the lead to 21-18.
The Canada-U.S. series winner slots into Pool C at the 2019 World Cup in Japan, along with No. 2 England, No. 8 France, No. 9 Argentina and Oceania 2.
The playoff loser has another chance to qualify via a two-game playoff with No. 18 Uruguay, the lone survivor left in South American qualifying. That winner slots into Pool D as Americas 2 with No. 4 Australia, No. 7 Wales, No. 12 Georgia and Oceania 1.
The loser of the Uruguay series has one more chance, via a world repechage.
