[2014 EOYT] Canada vs Samoa

[Arms In]

That sums up this year for Canada fans. Another particularly well aimed kick in the balls has screwed up what could have been a good result.

Canada still gets to play Romania

 

[LittleGuy]

Well that was a missed oppourtunity but the 2nd half had a number of positives and if we play like this against the Oaks we can salvage this tour.

Some quick player ratings.....

1. Buydens 7 - Scrum went pretty well, rallied the boys as captain when the penalty count was rising.
2. Carpenter 6.5 - Upgrade to Barkwill.
3. Marshall - 6.5 - Not as impressive from the loose today but a solid performance.
4. Cudmore - 7.5 - Tackled and played hard really nessecary for the big matches.
5. Buekeboom - 5.5 - Probably our worst front fiver today, though not awful went off early.
6. Gilmour - 5 - Not a good first half, improved over last week but still a bit out of his depth.
7. Dala - 3.5 - Should not have been on for the full 80, was having a mediocre game till his error at the end blew our chances completely.
8. Sinclair - 7.5 - Fronted up well to the Samoan physicality.
9. McRorie - 5.5 - Some brilliant, some awful, White was actually an upgrade except in the goal kicking department.
10. Braid - 6.5 - Pretty good 2nd half after a poor 1st half, got the backline moving and tactical kicking was in form.
11. Van De Merwe - 6.5 - Could have been higher had he not tackled himself/offloaded to Pritch when the try was on.
12. Hearn - 7 - Great in defence, didn't add as much in attack as he sometimes has.
13. Trainor - 7 - First half was about a 4/10, 2nd was more like a 9/10, so I'll settle at 7.
14. Hassler - 6.5 - Somewhat ditto for Trainor though not quite as good.
15. Pritchard - 7 - Old steady at FB

16. Barkwill - 6 - Better used off the bench
17. Ilnicki - 6 - Did well in the blood sub and releif appearance.
18. Tieddemann - 6 - Close to a N/A with so little time, but I'll give him a neutral grade.
19. Phelan - 7 - Scrum went well after he came on, worked hard.
20. Thorpe - 6.5 - Should ahve come on earlier, thought he did well on debut.
21. White - 7.5 - Really solid twenty out of White, should be the 3rd SH on the 2015 side.
22. Parfrey - 3 - Dire appearance.
23. Jordan Wilson-Ross -N/A.

 

[Beerfalo]

That Japan second half, McRorie box kick, Sinclair red card, head scratching rotations. Now McRorie's fumble, then throw away the match as soon as you can back into it. It's been just been a cursed year for Canada, whenever things seem like they might be going well something incredibly frustrating just comes along mucks it up.

Well when you put it like that, thank god I have a fridge full of beer and shelf full of hard liquor. Also you forgot DTH slipping on wet grass when there was a group of Canadians and only one Samoan standing between them and a try.

Parfrey is NOT an International level player. If it wasn't for his stupid dad he wouldn't even get a shot at Canada 'A'. I'd almost rather Blevins on the bench instead of him next week and we all know I LOATHE Blevins at this level. Also I wish they had brought Dala off instead of Gilmour. I think Gilmour was better suited against Samoa though he's not as flashy or fast as Dala. But what's done is done. Just gotta "accept" another stupid loss and focus on Romania next week. At least the Romanians look in rough shape as well.

 

[canadafan]

Only saw the second half, so here are my comments.

Trainor played well, hopefully some club in Europe will take a chance on him. We need him playing pro rugby.
McRorie had a rough game. Braid was fairly good in the second half I thought, he is definetly our best choice for FH right now. It was him who set up McRorie for that (should have been) Try.
Sounds like Beukeboom had a tough outing.


I would start pretty much the same line up against Romania. The only change in the forwards would be Thorpe starting, probably ahead of Dala. Think Gilmour would suit the Romanians better.

In the backs, if Paris(or Mackenzie) are not available, no changes. Our backs are finally starting to look like they know what to do. Can't keep messing with the line up too much.

 

[rusty_lock]

Only saw the second half, so here are my comments.

Trainor played well, hopefully some club in Europe will take a chance on him. We need him playing pro rugby.
McRorie had a rough game. Braid was fairly good in the second half I thought, he is definetly our best choice for FH right now. It was him who set up McRorie for that (should have been) Try.
Sounds like Beukeboom had a tough outing.


I would start pretty much the same line up against Romania. The only change in the forwards would be Thorpe starting, probably ahead of Dala. Think Gilmour would suit the Romanians better.

In the backs, if Paris(or Mackenzie) are not available, no changes. Our backs are finally starting to look like they know what to do. Can't keep messing with the line up too much.

Ardron is hoping to be available for Romania. I would start him at 8 and move Sinclair to 6 and start Thorpe at 7. Also, Phelan was way better at scrum time than Beukeboom, so give him a start. Our scrum instantly achieved parity when he came in. You have to reward good performance.

I agree, stay with the same backline there are no realistic changes that can be made anyways.

 

[canadafan]

Yeah I would agree with switching Phelan and beukeboom too.

 

[rusty_lock]

McRorie is hard to assess. He had some good moments but I think his overall distribution of the ball was poor. His passes were slow and a times inaccurate and his ability to deliver quick ball to the backs was questionable. I like him and I think he may have more upside than Mack (who I have always been a fan of) but I'm just not sure he is as dynamic a player as Mack and in the absence of any real attacking creativity from the back line I'm not sure that he is going to get it done for us.

Ed Fairhurst and Morgan Williams he is not

 

[canadafan]

I still like McRorie, but that was a horrible knock on. Think he will have a great game next week.