Canada exploded for 24 points in the second half of Saturday's Rugby World Cup qualifier to overcome a 14-10 deficit and ultimately beat the USA 34-21 in the 1st leg of the two-game series.

Players at Swilers Rugby Club in St. John’s, Nfl., the game gives Canada a 13-point advantage going into next weekend's second game in Glendale, Colo.

The Eagles had a dream start in the game, taking a lineout five meters from the Canadian line and seeing Canada give up a penalty try when they collapsed the maul. That put the USA up 7-0 but they struggled to maintain precision and clarity in their game in the first half, even with Matt Heaton in the sin bin after the penalty try.

Instead, Canada rebounded and came right back to equalize. The Eagles gave up a penalty at midfield and Canada took the lineout, drove the maul, and then ran a series of punishing runs before lock Corey Thomas charged over. It was good stuff from Canada and rather lackluster defense from the USA. All tied up at seven minutes, the game sort of started over. 

The Eagles had another shot with a good driving maul close to the line, but when the ball was presented on the ground, scrumhalf Ruben de Haas just fumbled the pickup and the knock-on let Canada off the hook. Canada had a chance after that but were not straight on their lineout. Eventually, though, another midfield penalty, this time a high tackle, led to Canada flyhalf Peter Nelson blasting over a kick from long range for a 10-7 lead.

The USA got another chance after that, and mauled the ball over the line. The USA players celebrated what they thought was a try, but the referee ruled held up, and Canada got a goalline dropout. It was that kind of half. Nelson missed a penalty attempt, the Eagles kept giving up silly penalties. Canada's maul failed, the USA's maul failed. Neither team showed much imagination in the red zone. Even when de Haas wanted the ball to spin it, his forwards reabsorbed it into the maul ... and then got stopped.

So finally they switched it up. Another lineout opportunity in the red zone and this time Jamason Fa'anana-Schultz peeled off, took the ball forward and then sent a flat pass to Hanco Germishuys who was over. Luke Carty converted and it was 14-10.   

But it was a good-news bad-news kind of game. From the restart No.8  Cam Dolan went up for the ball, lifted by Germishuys. Dolan was hit while he was in the air, crashed to the ground and lay there. He stayed in the game but was later subbed off for a Head Injury Assessment. He didn't return, and the USA lineout suffered thereafter.

Second Half

So after an iffy first half the USA was in the lead and poised to improve and build on that lead. No such luck. Instead Canada captain Lucas Rumball was shoved over after a good series of phases from his team. over two minutes into the second half to make it 17-14. Ten minutes later center Ben LeSage was over from short range—Canada just had more urgency and adventure, with a nifty chip ahead getting them in USA territory.

That made it 24-14 after Nelson's conversion. The flyhalf then added a penalty to make it 27-14. Still the Eagles had a chance to narrow the lead. They pressured for a time in the Canadian 22 and from a scrum got a penalty. De Haas tapped quickly and while Canada defended well, the Eagles had numbers out wide. On as a sub at flyhalf, AJ MacGinty sent a wide pass that might have been a bit forced—clearly he thought Luke Carty was open. But Canada wing Brock Webster read it perfectly, intercepted the pass, and was gone for 90 meters. 

It was a killer blow and that really was the game right there. To the USA's credit, they kept at it. In the 78th minute MacGinty launched a massive kick to touch off a penalty. The Eagles worked from there and MacGinty set Christian Dyer free for a try ... except he had waited too long and Tavite Lopeti, running a dummy line, had obstructed a Canadian defender. No try. But with time just about up the USA got one more lineout, ran several phases off that, and a short ball to Lopeti saw the debutant over under the posts.

That try was a big deal. It cut heavily into the deficit in this series, and showed, as well, that the USA can attack in open play. 

“We’ll celebrate the win because it’s important but we need some humility looking forward to next week,” said Canada’s Head Coach Kingsley Jones. “We’ve got a 13-point lead at the moment and we’ve got 80 minutes to play.  We know it’ll be a different challenge next week, a big challenge but as they say, we need to make sure we enjoy the win.”

For the USA, overall they looked slow and somewhat enervated. Losing Dolan didn't help and chasing the game didn't help either. But when the Eagles stopped playing so conservatively, they were impressive.

Head Coach Gary Gold wasn't happy.

"Pretty much at a loss for words. Completely and totally unacceptable performance. Very disappointing considering we had a very good start. We were dominant, at the set piece against these guys and ultimately we were the masters of our own destiny. This was 100% our own doing. We had an opportunity to close a team like Canada out with a strong set piece. Our scrum went well in the beginning, our maul went well in the beginning and we didn't capitalize on it."

Those scoring chances were crucial. A knock-on, a held-up, and then a maul stalled all hurt—they could all have been tries. And that interception try given up was a 12-14-point turnaround.

"If we'd converted even two or three more of those before halftime, the picture would have been completely different," continued Gold. "Obviously, the concussion for Cam hurt us and a couple of changes that had to be made is obviously not ideal, but it's the same for both teams so there are no excuses. The challenge has been laid. We knew that this was going to be a very good Canadian team. And they came out and proved it. Just really disappointing all around and we've got our work cut out for us. We have to step up to the plate next week if we want to be serious about qualifying for Rugby World Cup."

Canada 34
Tries: Thomas, Rumball, Lesage, Webster
Convs: Nelson 4
Pens: Nelson 2

USA 21
Tries: Penalty Try, Germishuys, Lopeti
Convs: Penalty Try, Carty, MacGinty

USA Lineup

Canada Lineup

1. Djustice Sears-Duru - Oakville, ON - Unattached
2. Andrew Quattrin - Holland Landing, ON - Toronto Arrows
3. Matt Tierney - Oakville, ON - Castres Olympique
4. Corey Thomas - Perth, Western AUS - LA Giltinis
5. Conor Keys - Stittsvile, ON - Rugby ATL
6. Lucas Rumball - Markham, ON - Toronto Arrows (C)
7. Matt Heaton - Godmanchester, QC - Rugby ATL
8. Siaki Vikilani - Burnaby, BC - Toronto Arrows
9. Ross Braude - Pretoria, SA - Toronto Arrows
10. Peter Nelson - Dungannon, UK - Stade Aurillacois Cantal Auvergne
11. Kainoa Lloyd - Mississauga, ONT - James Bay AA
12. Spencer Jones - Cambridge, NZ - Toronto Arrows
13. Ben LeSage - Calgary, AB - Toronto Arrows
14. Brock Webster - Uxbridge, ON - Canada Rugby 7's
15. Cooper Coats - Halifax, NS - Canada Rugby 7's

Reserves:
16. Eric Howard - Ottawa, ON - Nola Gold
17. Cole Keith - Apohaqui, NB - Toronto Arrows
18. Tyler Rowland - Mississauga, ON - Toronto Arrows
19. Mason Flesch - Cobourg, ON - Toronto Arrows
20. Michael Smith - White Rock, BC - San Diego Legion
21. Rob Povey – Long Buckly, UK - Houston Sabercats
22. Jason Higgins - Cork, Ire - Toronto Arrows
23. Patrick Parfrey – St. John’s, NL – Toronto Arrows/Swilers RFC