James Pritchard scored a try and kicked seven from seven penalties and conversions to spark Canada to a 36-27 win over Tonga in a Pacific Nations Cup rugby match on a rainy Saturday at Queen’s University.
The Canadians, 3-0 in the five-nation event, stretched their lead at the top of the table, having already beaten the United States 16-9 last month and Fiji 20-18 just three days earlier.
After a friendly against Ireland on Friday in Toronto, the Canadians will try to complete a sweep of Cup matches with a victory in Japan on June 19.
Tonga, who opened with a 27-17 victory over Japan last month, will visit the United States on Friday and play Fiji in Japan on June 19.
Canada took a 9-7 halftime lead, with three penalty kicks by fullback Pritchard for the hosts after a try by Lua Lokotui and conversion from Kurt Morath gave Tonga the early edge.
Tonga’s Ed Aholelei was red-carded in the 34th minute.
Matt Evans and Sean Duke scored early second-half tries and Canada jumped ahead by 16 points before Kurt Morath connected on a penalty to pull Tonga within 23-10.
Ciaran Hearn converted a long penalty in reply and Pritchard followed with a try and kicked the conversion to give Canada a 33-10 edge.
Tonga’s Viliame Iongi, Fetu’u Vainikolo and Will Helu answered with tries to pull the visitors within 33-27 with less than three minutes to play.
But Pritchard added another penalty in the final seconds, completing a perfect kicking day to secure the victory for Canada.
“My heart stopped a couple times there,” said Canadian captain Aaron Carpenter, who earned his 50th cap in the match.
Evans was taken off on a stretcher after a hard hit but was deemed well after the match.
It was the first meeting for Tonga and Canada since the Canadians won 25-20 at the 2011 World Cup in New Zealand.
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