Canada U18s and the USA HS All Americans split their games Saturday, and in both games the Canadians started strong, only to have to deal with a USA comeback.

The USA Blue comeback succeeded, while USA Red retook the lead only to fall to a late penalty goal.

USA Blue 26
Tries: Lucas Pattinson 2, Sincere Lecraft, Irae Savaiinaea
Convs: Damian Morley 2, Henri Ross-Pelat

Canada Red 19
Tries: Ethan Fryer, Liam Bowman, Matt Klimchuk
Convs: Max Abercrombie 2

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USA Red 26
Tries: Trey Reed, Darius Law, Zion Ah You, Michael Matthews
Convs: Ethan Van Tonder 3

Canada White 28
Tries: Isaac Hokanson, Medhi Porchet, Tom Morrissey, Jamin Hodgkins
Convs: Jamin Hodgkins
Pens: Jamin Hodgkins 2

Notable on the Canadian team is Ethan Fryer, who qualifies for the USA and Canada, and has played for the USA Stripes against Canada (he scored two tries in a sevens win over Canada in July). He also toured British Columbia with the Washington Loggers. But he's showing off his skills to both programs and the flanker is looking pretty good.

Also looking good is Xavier HS scrumhalf Damian Morley, who is young but has a big upside and carries on that school's tradition of producing talented #9s.

Henri Ross-Pelat ‘20, Damien Morley ‘20, Coach Greg Norris, William Laino ‘20 and the rest of the USA Rugby Boys U18s take on Canada this afternoon. Follow @usarugby on Twitter, Instagram stories, or Facebook stories for score updates. #SonsofXavier pic.twitter.com/MXLxsBGPvZ

— Xavier High School (@XavierHS) December 28, 2019

HSAA Head Coach Brendan Keane was happy with the day's effort.

"I was pleased with the commitment the players showed and there were some bright group and individual performances," said Keane, who also identified some aspects of play where the team needs to improve. "We have to get better in our technical execution in the set-piece and with the ball in contact. We also need to focus on improving our defensive connections and decision-making in possession."

More Than Just The Result

Keane added that the HSAA teams need to be more disciplined, as well. But the positives outweigh the negatives, and even a close loss is good, because it's the closeness of the game that shows that these players are being put in the right intense situations.

"In the end we're interested in individual and team growth and onboarding the players to the high-performance process," said Keane. "We're working on hitting our internal performance outcomes, and enjoying the experience and opportunity to be involved in the game at this high level. If we do those things, we hope it brings a good score result. We always play to win, but our responsibilities in age-grade are much bigger than that."

Canada Head Coach Mike Curran echoed those sentiments.

“The U18 level is a critical step in exposing players to the demands of international rugby,” Curran told Rugby Canada. “Players will be tested in the way they prepare, play, and review. Throughout this tour, players will be asked to play the game at greater speed and under greater pressure. We want to facilitate the growth of these players under greater pressure than they have seen in the past. Being creative is the primary theme.”