NEWS

USA Rugby & Rugby Canada Player Watch

Written by Joe Harvey | Photos by NEIL Kennedy for USA Rugby

Representatives of Major League Rugby were in international action this weekend with the USA and Canada playing their first games since the 2019 Rugby World Cup in Japan. Playing England and Wales respectively, neither side was able to pick up a win on their return to play after 20 months, but the results weren’t all negative.

It was Canada who got things underway on Saturday afternoon, Kingsley Jones’ men playing Wales in Cardiff at the Principality Stadium. It was quite the stage to be getting your first international cap, something which Toronto’s Siaki Vikilani, Ross Braude, Tyler Rowland, Rugby United New York’s Quinn Ngawati and San Diego Legion’s Michael Smith were all doing.

It was Wales’ first game in front of home fans and the 8,200 who had made their way to South Wales were quietened down in the opening stages after former Toronto Arrow Kainoa Lloyd opened the scoring with a try.

Canada and Toronto Arrows captain, Ben LeSage was involved with the move, but their bright start would soon be overshadowed by tries for Wales’ Tomos Williams, James Botham, Jonah Holmes and several of the Welsh pack.

In all, Wales scored 12 tries against their opposition, Canada scoring a second try through sevens player Cooper Coats as the game began to wind down. LeSage was probably Canada’s Player of the Match and formed a good relationship with Ngawati, a partnership that is only going to flourish with more chances to play with each other at test level.

Ever dependable, Lucas Rumball proved his worth with some good work at the ruck, whilst Seattle’s Djustice Sears-Duru and Jake Ilnicki were their reliable selves in the front-row. NOLA Gold’s Eric Howard can count himself unlucky not to have scored a try in the second-half, Rumball quick to praise Wales for their performance on the day.

“They brought everything — the skill, the execution, the pace of the game,” Rumball said. “I think we made it tough for ourselves at times, trying to play too fast when we should have slowed it down, got our composure back. But they take every opportunity you give them, and we gave them lots today.”

No doubt the next day the whole of the Canada squad sat down to watch their next opponents, England, take on the USA at Twickenham. 10,000 made their way to West London to watch Gary Gold’s men take on the English on Independence Day and would have enjoyed a competitive game between the two sides.

As had happened the day before, the away team took the lead. It was the LA Giltinis’ Luke Carty who kicked the penalty, the opportunity to get points on the board coming after a good scrum.

On debut, Carty impressed throughout the game, making several good tackles in defense, but also using his kicking to give the Eagles good field position to mount attacks from across the 80 minutes.

That penalty would make up all of the points scored by the USA in the opening half, England scoring tries through Sam Underhill, Ollie Lawrence and Joe Cokanasiga. The USA stunned England in the opening exchanges of the second half, with a well-worked line-out drive resulting in Old Glory DC back-row Jamason Fa’anana-Schultz crashing over the try line.

An England try soon followed; however, it was NOLA’s Cam Dolan who struck next, the big No.8 charging down Harry Randalls attempt at an exiting kick for England, who were penned in deep in their own 22, and pouncing onto the loose ball to register the try.

Randall atoned for his error by first providing a score for Marcus Smith and then going all the way himself, but it was the USA who ended the encounter on a high note with two tries. New York’s Hanco Germishuys scored a carbon copy of Fa’anana-Schultz’s effort, whilst Utah Warriors’ Mika Kruse and Michael Baska were heavily involved in Christian Dyers’ score as the clock slowly counted up to 80.

It was an incredibly positive performance for the team, who clearly have adopted a never-say-die attitude and, despite introducing some new faces, displayed an obvious increase in quality, despite only having been in camp for a short period of time.

“I saw on the first day of training, the intensity, the enthusiasm and excitement of guys that was shown within the squad and on the training field about getting back into camp,” Gary Gold told majorleague.rugby in his post-match press conference. “That is always an encouraging sign to see and that is almost the most difficult thing to get right.

“There was just a huge excitement, and I was just really hoping for guys to unleash and feel that they could play without shackles, and I felt that they put themselves under too much pressure.

“But, again, the way the game started to turn, they have got a lot more confident, so it was a very, very tough week and coaching wise it was one of the biggest challenges I have had, but thank goodness we have got an amazing group of guys who bought in.”

Next weekend, the USA will play Ireland in Dublin, as Canada make the trip to London in order to take on England.

Find the USA Rugby schedule here.

Find the Rugby Canada schedule here.