Canada will go into the Repechage tournament with a reasonable chance of qualifying for next year’s Rugby World Cup. On paper, realistically though, they barely look a chance.
The Canadians went into qualifying with one job – to beat the US in a home-and-away, which they almost looked on track to do after drawing the first leg. In the away game however, they were put to the sword, losing by 36 points, meaning the United States went through as the America 1 seed.
This came off the back of a dismal June series, where Georgia and Romania shot them down at home, going both games without a single try.
Their fortunes didn’t improve much during the November Internationals, only knocking over Spain, before being crushed by Fiji and Georgia.
Nevertheless, Uruguay wasn’t the hardest of all opponents, so many found it surprising when they lost both games early this year.
Against Russia last weekend, the men from Canada looked like they didn’t want to be there.
Some of it was just due to Russia brilliance – not a word you can say often – but the decision-making in particular was sub-standard from the Canadians.
Here are four errors which stood out for me.
In the 36th minute- 53:26 on the video- the Russians kick off after a Canada try.
What’s immediately obvious is the way the Russians load the camera side of the field, with 11 players, from my count, to the left side of the kicker.
Nevertheless, the home team have a very spread pack, and backline, making them vulnerable to potential ruck-flooding.
The kick chase is outstanding, as Aleksei Mikhaltsov in #11 lines up his opposing winger, who passes infield to the support.
From the box kick, Jeff Hassler has no real hope of getting to the ball, making a contestable length kick aimless.
The Russians scored no less than two phases later- moving the ball back to their still-loaded shortside, finding Mikhaltsov who goes over.
The next event is fairly obvious – 1:16:27 on the video – with 35 minutes left, the home team are down by 23 points, but bizarrely opt a penalty kick to trim the lead down to 20.
Soon after, at 1:18:18, Canada opt a quick lineout throw, which finds the hooker – who is hardly the person to be throwing in to – however, as the commentators point out, the sun was directly in his eyes. In saying that, the trainer touches the ball after it crosses the sideline, so the throw should never have been allowed in the first place.
This flows on into another bad mess-up, at 1:24:35 Russia feed a scrum close to the posts, however just look at the lack of cover directly under the uprights- making it all too easy for Anton Rudoy at #8 to pick and go for the match-sealing try.
In summary, if the men in red want to qualify they will need to up their game against what will, undoubtedly, be a gruelling trio of countries, but given they’ve missed out on America 1 and 2, the ante will need to be upped.
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The men in blue were trying not to let their opponents get away with niggling tactics.
