RWC Review: No. 14 Canada

[Shaggy]

The 2011 Rugby World Cup has ended and unfortunately for the rugby faithful, this means that we'll have to wait four years once again, but don't be disappointed, this was a special tournament. New Zealand hosted this time around, and with that, we realize that we may not see the rugby mad country host again for a very long time.

We hope that you all savored every moment and every match, no matter what the outcomes were, the disappointments or heartache. What impressed us the most is how well second tier nations developed over the past four years, which is great news for the sport on a worldwide scale.

Development is the key to this game, as any, and this world cup has opened the door to a large number of new fans.

As we take a look back, Shaggy, psychic duck and M Two One review the twenty participants from worst to first over the next week. The rankings were put together through several opinions based on performances.

Feel free to debate and discuss. The 2011 Rugby World Cup may have ended, but rugby lives on 24/7.

Canada's form coming into the world cup was pretty good. They had backed up their runner up performance in the 2010 Churchill cup with a loss to the English Saxons (England A) in the final of the 2011 event. They followed this up with wins home and away in a two test series against the USA, a loss to an Australian Barbarians side that contained players from the Wallaby world cup squad and then a win against a Queensland XV in their final pre-tournament hit out.

Canadian coach, Keiran Crowley, stated before the tournament started that their aim was to secure third place in the pool to automatically qualify for the next world cup and attain the funding from the IRB that comes with it. With Tonga's win over France, Canada actually came within one upset victory of achieving this goal. The form of the team during the tournament may have surprised some pundits that didn't follow the tier two teams too closely before the tournament commensed, with many predicting that Tonga with their northern hemisphere professional players returning, would easily account for the likes of Canada and Japan.

Coach Crowley had built a strong team unit with a good mix of the few overseas based professional players he had available to him, such as Jamie Cudmore and DTH Van Der Merwe, and Canadian based amateur players. The squad included a strong, abrasive forward pack that surprised a few observers of the game as they were expected in some quarters to be out muscled by most of their opponents. To add to that their back line had a good mix of experience and young exciting players.

Crowley's approach to the tournament was to always play his strongest 22 available and he was immediately rewarded with a win over Tonga, but the fatigue factor of this policy certainly impacted on the team in their match against France, where they were competitive up until the 60 minute mark. They were perhaps a little lucky to secure a draw against Japan in the last minutes of that game, but looked to have third spot sown up until Tonga's victory over France relegated them to fourth spot in the pool. This left the team with the unenviable task of beating the All Blacks in their final pool match, and they were well beaten in the end.

The front row of Hubert Buydens, Pat Riordan, and Jason Marshall, ably supported by the locks, veteran Cudmore, and converted number eight, Jebb Sinclair, to turn an area of concern for Canada in recent years, the scrum, into an effective unit. The loose forward trio of Adam Kleeberger, Chauncey O'Toole and Aaron Carpenter, were also able to start in all of the matches, and combined well together. Carpenter ran very well with ball in hand from number eight and Kleeberger and O'Toole played effectively as two openside flankers. O'Toole arguably had the bigger reputation of the two, due to his exploits in the Churchill cup, but he seemed not to recover properly from a knock in the first match against Tonga and it was Kleeberger who was really the star in this tournament. In the backs, veteran scrum half Ed Fairhurst combined well with Ander Monro, who was often the steadying influence in the back line and was perhaps the unsung hero of the team to some extent. DTH van der Merwe was the star of the backline though and was superb at outside centre on both attack and defense.

The highlights of the tournament for Canada were their win over Tonga and the two tries scored by the utility back, Conor Trainor, against the All Blacks. Trainor is one of the young players in the squad and to have two tries in the bag against the All Blacks bodes well in the future for both himself and Canadian rugby. – S

 

[Dougydeluxe]

We should have beaten Japan, hands down our worse game of the tournament.

 

[kovana]

Are Canada and USA in the expanded Pacific Nations cup next year?

 

[M Two One]

I can't find anything about those two nations being added to the competition, but it would definitely be a good idea.

 

[Canucks]

We should have beaten Japan, hands down our worse game of the tournament.

God, no kidding.

Still don't understand why they never gave the ball to the backs. DTH scores after 2 runs, then goes to forwards the rest of the game until the pass it to Mackenzie and it ends in a try. Canada's biggest issue of the future is changing the attacking strategy and finding a kicker. For once we have a semi-dangerous backline and we should use it.
Tp bad Pritch got TKOed by the palm of steel.