EOYT: Canada v Samoa, 09/11/2012

[LittleGuy]

Samoa have laid down a big message. If Wales were planning on playing a weakened team next Friday, they may well struggle.

I thought this would be closer as Samoa weren't so dominant in the PNC, but they have totally dominated Canada.

As Canucks and Little Guy have both pointed out, Canada's side simply looks like boys against men and come off worse at nearly every contact.

I can only really think of one or two Samoan mistakes in the entire match, they have come a little off the pedal since the first 20 but Canada are just making no ground on the attack.

Challenge to fellow watchers of Canada....try to name a player of the game for Canada it's very difficult....

Edit: Easily the worst Canadian effort since the first game of the Japan tour in 2009.

 

[Super Sub]

Samoa have laid down a big message. If Wales were planning on playing a weakened team next Friday, they may well struggle.

I thought this would be closer as Samoa weren't so dominant in the PNC, but they have totally dominated Canada.

As Canucks and Little Guy have both pointed out, Canada's side simply looks like boys against men and come off worse at nearly every contact.

9 different players to the starting line-up to that team that played in the PNC.

I can't believe they brought on Fotuali'i, should've saved him totally for Wales.

 

[Super Sub]

4 tries for Lilomaiava now. Great for his confidence.

 

[Canucks]

P

Samoa have laid down a big message. If Wales were planning on playing a weakened team next Friday, they may well struggle.

I thought this would be closer as Samoa weren't so dominant in the PNC, but they have totally dominated Canada.

As Canucks and Little Guy have both pointed out, Canada's side simply looks like boys against men and come off worse at nearly every contact.

Now I didn't say that but I agree with you nonetheless (first sign of the apocalypse.)

What is so depressing about this game, is Canada hasn't even matched the physicality. Either the missing players really have that big an impact on the psyche of the team or Crowley just failed to get this team mentally ready.

This is probably the first time I have ever seen a Canadian team not even compete. And yes I was there for both all blacks games. No heart today.

And white is involved in another try.

 

[LittleGuy]

Finally!!!! Eric Wilson is actually looking pretty good at SH right now and O'Toole has been better than much of the 23 today.

 

[Canucks]

Omg a spark of heart.

 

[LittleGuy]

Where the hell was this earlier!!!

 

[Super Sub]

Good play by Canada these last few minutes.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

That second Canada try was quality!

 

[Canucks]

Well this is interesting. Some serious heart shown by the subs.

Where was this earlier. This is the type of rugby that beat Tonga. Instead earlier they played like they did against Japan.

 

[poopiepeople]

See what happens when Sean White Isn't on the pitch?

 

[LittleGuy]

Whistle blown a little early there, Canada were attacking well another score could have been on the cards....the scoreline after 22 minutes was actually only 20-12. Eric Wilson should start at SH against Russia.

 

[CDN_Rugby]

That was the worse effort since we played Ireland in 2008.

Some Thoughts

-Simply put, we were scared of Samoa's physicality. As a side that never backs down from playing a physical game, that's worrisome.
-No matter what, our scrum sucks. That said, we were better once Marshall and Tiedemann came on. Both should start against Russia.
-Barkwill did a decent job in the lineouts.
-White was terrible.
-Despite a few costly mistakes I was impressed by Braid's willingness to take control of the game and use his feet.
-Pritchard, obviously, had a bad day with the boot. That's rare.
-O'Toole had a good second half and was the Canadian player of the game.
-Did I mention our scrum sucks?

Looking forward to Russia...

 

[psychic duck]

The attendance figure was 2,859.

Sorry to raise an old discussion but surely other options would have got more ...

 

[LittleGuy]

The attendance figure was 2,859.

Sorry to raise an old discussion but surely other options would have got more ...

Agreed PD. The first game of the Japan tour in 2009 is the game I look back to as being much like this, thankfully we have Russia up next week and the late rally at least gives the boys something to build on.

The crowd seemed passionate and I guess it could have been worse in the attendance department but I can't see that the Stoop wouldn't have had a bigger turnout had the games been held there. It looked like it wasn't a sell out, the small far stand looked to have quite a few empty seats.

 

[Canucks]

I feel emasculated. That wasn't a Canadian team out there until the end. Little to no physicality and if you show a more physical opponent weakness then you'll lose.

I felt scrum was crap. Not a fan of scrums in general but today was particularly crap. Thankfully there were very few.
Lineout were actually good for once.
Felt we really missed something in through loosies today. Oh yeah our top 3 didn't play (dala, kleeberger and Sinclair.)
Sean white.... things are best left unsaid.
Braid was ok. Felt he did a good job of attacking the line.
Centres didn't exist.
Wings did ok at the end of the game.
Poor Pritchard.

Subs were the best part.

I have no idea why this team came out flat. Even if your outmatched you stand a better chance making life difficult for your opponent than if you play safe.

I'm going to replay this game on rugby challenge and submit the score to irb.

 

[LittleGuy]

Really? Think of the amount of more Americans/Samoans/Russians/Canadians living there, plus the much larger amount of people who could go as the London area is so much more dense, I thought we all agreed that part on the past thread. I looked up the attendances for the 2011 Churchill Cup (which were hard to find) and it said that at Kingsholm, Gloucester the match between Italy A and Russia got 5,347. So I would have expected more around that figure.

HAHA sorry my grammar must be off I was totally agreeing with you, I'm fairly certain as well that a crowd of 5,000 could have been expected in London for a doubleheader like this. I have a feeling next Saturday's crowds might be even lower with Samoa not in action.

 

[Super Sub]

Good games from our 8, 9 and 10. I'd probably give MOTM to Tuifua, just dominate in all his exchanges and really set the tone for the team.

Not a bad effort by our youngest on the wing. This is the first time he's played on the wing, he usually plays at 12.

Some of the camera cuts were horrible.

 

[aucklander]

Great first hit out for the Manu, was really impressed with the debutants who played with a lot confidence. I see why Su'a was picked up by the crusaders played a really good quick game excellent replacement for Kahn. I hope they carry this momentum on to the welsh game. With Paul Williams and a few other key players returning. I so can't wait, will be keeping a good eye on the welsh game tonight. Well done to the Canadian team for fighting to the end, they will be dangerous come next week after today's loss.

 

[LittleGuy]

My player reviews.

Starters:
1. Hubert Buydens (Saskatoon Wild Oats/Prairie Wolf Pack) Saskatoon, SK (Weak effort from Buydens, has looked much better before.)
2. Ray Barkwill (Niagara, Oakville Crusaders/Ontario Blues) Niagara Falls, ON (Decent at the lineout, an allright debut deserves to be in the Canadian lineup ahead of Pletch)
3. Doug Wooldridge (Lindsay RFC/Ontario Blues) Lindsay, ON (Shouldn't have been starting and it showed got destroyed at scrum time)
4. Jon Phelan (Ste-Anne-de-Bellvue/The Rock) Montreal, QC (Virtually invisible, schooled at scrum time)
5. Tyler Hotson (London Scottish RFC) Vancouver, BC (Slightly more active than the rest of our front five, it was fairly obvious he was the only pro in the group)
6. Tyler Ardron (Brantford Harlequins/Ontario Blues) Lakefield, ON (Didn't carry his ARC form into this match, still has potential to grow as a player.)
7. Chauncey O'Toole (Belleisle RFC/The Rock)Belleisle, NB (Best player of the day for Canada although that dosen't say much, kept fighting to the end and battled hard.)
8. Aaron Carpenter (Plymouth Albion RFC) Brantford, ON(C) (Poor by his standards, as Captain I've found him a little underwhelming, Riordan seemed to do a better job of rallying the boys.)
9. Sean White (James Bay AA/Pacific Tyee) Victoria, BC (Can someone who looks like Phil Mack sit in on his classes for him and keep his assignments up to date? When a guy who's played 5 minutes for Canada prior to this and dosen't even play in the CRC is better than you another option is needed Eric Wilson should start against Russia.)
10. Connor Braid (James Bay AA/Pacific Tyee) Victoria, BC (Was much better in the 2nd half had to deal with some terrible ball in from White, is really only a stop gap to when the likes of McCann and Jones are old enough.)
11. Matt Evans (Cornish Pirates) Duncan, BC (Never got it together has played much better in the Canadian colours.)
12. Phil Mackenzie (London Welsh) Oakville, ON (Was hurt early hopefully it isn't too bad, wasn't playing well but hard to be too harsh with his limited minutes.)
13. Ciaran Hearn (Castaway Wanderers/The Rock) Conception Bay, NL (OK compared to some others today but it was usual "Vanilla" Hearn, isn't disgusting but not that great either his work rate needs to improve.)
14. Taylor Paris (Glasgow Warriors) Barrie, ON (Rallied in final 20 wasn't playing that well until that point, struggled with some big Samoan bodies.)
15. James Pritchard (Bedford Blues) Parkes, NSW, Australia (VC) (Missed a very makeable penalty early and a shocking conversion attempt, in open play has been much better in previous games.)

Bench
16. Ryan Hamilton (Capilano/Pacific Tyee) West Vancouver, BC (Played well in relief of Barkwill, perhaps making a case for the #2 jersey back, had a great run and actually competed physically)
17. Jason Marshall (Aurillac) North Vancouver, BC (Was better than Buydens by a bit.)
18. Andrew Tiedemann (FC Auch Gers) St. Albert, AB (Was better than Wooldridge by a lot.)
19. Brett Beukeboom (Plymouth Albion RFC) Lindsay, ON (Should have been starting over Phelan)
20. John Moonlight (James Bay AA/Ontario Blues) Pickering, ON (Added some spark and earned a try.)
21. Eric Wilson (Meraloma RC) Vancouver, BC (Came on and Canada actually started playing like they usually can. Should start next week but probably won't unfortunately.)
22. Nick Blevins (Calgary Hornets/Prairie Wolf Pack) Calgary, AB (Played OK until he took a very silly card. Set back Canada for 10 minutes.)
23. Jeff Hassler (Okotoks RFC/Prairie WolfPack) Okotoks, AB (Nothing special but decent enough in his limited minutes.)