Were the USA U20s in trouble when they were down 18-7 against Canada on Saturday? Not really.
That’s part of the message from gameday captain Cade Crist. But the other part was they did feel the urgency. They needed to shore up their scrums, get some ball, and use the weapons they had.
“We never felt like we were out of control,” Crist told GRR. “We only really allowed them to get into that position because of penalties and problems in the scrum. Once we had a couple of clean scrums we felt a lot better.”
What led to those scrum penalties could be the subject of a treatise. But it did seem as if Canada had targeted an angle of drive that splintered the USA pack a bit. After a couple of those, gray area problems went Canada’s way. Once the Americans were able to simply hold the scrum steady and speed up the ball getting to the back, the problem of giving up penalties at scrum time went away.
“It was a little bit of guys not knowing each other and maybe not having a lot of reps together,” said Crist. “Building connections with our props and locks was part of it, but in the second half it was also about staying in the fight a little bit longer.”
Hang on a bit longer and get the ball out. Be connected, and, in the wet grass at Shawnigan Lake, drive your studs into the ground.
Once they did that, they could play.
And play they did.
The Reset
Crist said that halftime was a crucial moment for the team. They had just given up a try to go behind 11-7, and while they would give up another try just after halftime, the break between halves was still important.
“I am thankful that halftime came at a time that it did,” said Crist. “That was a five-minute, 10-minute reset. We could take a breath, make some adjustments. Our replacements did an amazing job. They played one hell of a shift.”
Once the USA got the ball and kept the ball, what they also did was avoid scrums. Instead Canada found themselves to be scrambling to contain the outside backs from the south. And once the USA U20s scored the try to make it a one-score game at 18-14, the momentum was firmly on their side.
“There was a big swing of emotion there,” said Crist. “When you’ve been under the pump for 30 or 40 minutes, and then you get a couple of calls, it helped. Our backline plays to our strengths; it’s a backline I would back against any other team, and we trust those decision-makers.”
