(Jose Lagman photo)
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The win gave Canada a 47-30 aggregate victory following the USA's 12-6 win in Charleston on July 4.
As a result, Canada goes through as Americas 1 to join hosts New Zealand, France, Tonga and the Asian qualifier in Pool A.
The USA must now face Uruguay in a home and away series to determine the Americas 2 qualifier, who will join Australia, Ireland, Italy and Europe 2 in Pool C. The loser of that tie will have another chance to qualify through the cross-continental final place playoff in 2010.
Things got off to a bad start for the Eagles when the national anthem of Uruguay was mistakenly played over the ground’s PA system instead of the Star Bangled Banner and it just went from bad to worse for the US.
Canada built what turned out to be an unassailable 24-0 halftime lead behind tries by James Pritchard, Adam Kleeberger and Justin Mensah-Coker.
The American cause wasn’t helped by the red carding of center Paul Emerick, who was given his marching orders by referee Alan Lewis over a kicking incident in the 27th minute involving his opposite number DTH van der Merwe.
The Canadians were a different team from the one that played in Charleston. They showed much more enthusiasm, were better at executing plays and stepped up the passion a couple of notches.
“We are obviously very disappointed,” Eagles head coach Eddie O’Sullivan said.
“We played undisciplined in the first half and made some mistakes that Canada was able to capitalize on. We let the game get away from us early on and struggled to keep shape. We played better in the second half, but by that point we were chasing the game and forcing things a bit.”
The second half was a slightly better story for the US with improved execution and multiple phases being put together, resulting in 18 points from two tries by Kevin Swiryn and skipper Todd Clever. Mike Hercus added the rest via two penalties and a conversion.
“We let them have a sniff and they took it,” added Eagle captain Todd Clever.
“They fed off our mistakes and it’s very disappointing to lose like that. This feeling is fresh in our mind now and we have made a promise to ourselves that we will use this to fuel our preparations for Uruguay.
“We can either let this get us down or make us better, and we’ve all vowed to do the latter.”
Canada sealed the win by closing down the American attack in the latter stages of the match after putting in three more tries by Ed Fairhurst, van der Merwe and Matt Evans.
On the positive side of the ledger, Tim Usasz, Nic Johnson and John van der Giessen all played hard for the US, as did Clever and Louis Stanfill, while Hercus and Chris Wyles turned in another solid performances.
Canada 41, USA 18
Canada (41)
Tries: Pritchard, Kleeberger, Mensah-Coker, Fairhurst, van der Merwe, Evans
Conversions: Pritchard (4)
Penalties: Pritchard
Canada: 1.Kevin Tkachuk; 2. Pat Riordan; 3. Dan Pletch; 4. Mike Burak; 5. Tyler Hotson; 6. Jebb Sinclair; 7. Nanyak Dala; 8. Adam Kleeberger; 9. Ed Fairhurst; 10. Ander Monro; 11. Justin Mensah-Coker; 12. Ryan Smith; 13. DTH van der Merwe; 14. Matt Evans; 15. James Pritchard
Replacements: 16. Mike Pletch; 17. Andrew Tiedemann; 18. Chauncey O’Toole; 19. Stu Ault; 20. Bryn Keys; 21. Phil Mack; 22. Ciaran Hearn
USA (18)
Tries: Swiryn, Clever
Conversions: Hercus
Penalties: Hercus (2)
USA: 1. Mate Moeakiola (Mike MacDonald in at 55); 2. Chris Biller (Joe Welch in at 76); 3. Shawn Pittman; 4. John Van der Giessen; 5. Hayden Smith (Alec Parker in at 68); 6. Louis Stanfill; 7. Todd Clever; 8. Nic Johnson (JJ Gagiano in at 72); 9. Tim Usasz (Mike Petri in at 58); 10. Mike Hercus (Ata Malifa in at 76); 11. Kevin Swiryn; 12. Roland Suniula (Salesi Sika in at 60) 13. Paul Emerick (red card at 27); 14. Takudzwa Ngwenya;15. Chris Wyles
