Canada West takes third NA4 champs
Sun, 03 Aug 2008 16:54
In an extremely physical battle between the two North America Four West Coast teams, Canada West capitalized on the few opportunities allowed them and narrowly beat the United States (US) Falcons 16-11 in the Final on Saturday.
The win saw the Canadian outfit clinch their third Championship title in the three years of the cross-border tournament.
Although Canada West scored first, converting two penalty kicks in the first 10 minutes, it was obvious from the start that this would be a very different game from the one that occurred on Canada's home turf in British Columbia on July 20, where the West beat the Falcons 55-3.
Saturday's Falcons squad came out extremely determined to not give up any easy tries and for the most part were able to suppress Canada West's expansive game. In fact, neither team scored a try in the first half, just racking up points off penalty opportunities allowed near the uprights.
Following Matt Evans' two penalty kicks in the opening minutes of the match, the Falcons Zach Pangelinan countered with a long effort of his own shortly thereafter to claw it back to 6-3.
A scuffle in the West 22 meter area resulted in a penalty to the Falcons about 16 minutes later and Pangelinan made no mistake - slotting it through to tie the match up at six-all.
Evans put the West back in the lead as he punished an offside offense by the Falcons with a long kick in the 34th minute. Both Evans and Pangelinan proved perfect in their penalty attempts in the first half, kicking for a half-time score of 9-6, Canada.
In the second half, the US saw several key scoring opportunities missed as the whistle was blown against Canada West, allowing a couple notable kicks to the corner for the Falcons, which they ultimately loss.
A penalty against Rikus Pretorius in the 48th minute added to the Falcons woe - giving Evans a shot from 50 meters - the wind from a coming storm aiding the effort but just tracking left to keep the score at 9-6.
It wasn't until the 62nd minute, after frantic period of pressure in the Falcons' end -including a blocked drop-goal attempt by Evans - that the West recovered with the ball going wide to Tom McKeen. McKeen smashed across for the important score, while Evans converted for a 16-6 lead.
In the 77th minute, with the Falcons needing two scores to win - a side step and slick off-load by Zach Pangelinan saw Volney Rouse cross the line at long last. The much needed conversion was wide however - making the score 16-11.
Despite a penalty against the West in the 79th minute - the Falcons kept the ball in hand as three points would do them no good. Desperate Canadian tackling finally resulted in a turnover ball which flyhalf Matt Evans kicked into touch. Referee Dave Smortchevsky blew the whistle for full time and Canada West remained champions for a third straight year.
"We came into this match focused on trying to keep our width on defence," coach Ray Lehner said.
"We wanted to push up together and had a goal that no one went by without being slowed down, even when we were scrambling that was the objective - that no one goes through untouched."
"Another goal was to stay within scoring distance of a win in the last 20 minutes," coach Lehner said.
"We did that, and I really thought we had a chance right up until the end. It could have gone either way, but it all came back to missing a lot of earlier opportunities."
"I think Ray [Lehner] has obviously done a lot of work with the boys and they were able to nullify our efforts and kept us away from the tryline for most of the match with great defence," Canada West Head Coach Tony Medina said following the victory.
"Our pack had an especially strong performance – they played a great game and defended well throughout."
Scorers:
For
Canada West:
Try: McKeen
Con: Evans
Pens: Evans 3
United States Falcons:
Try: Rouse
Pens: Pangelinan 2
Teams:
United States Falcons: 15 Jone Naqica, 14 Jason Pye, 13 Alipate Tuilevuka, 12 Gary Golding, 11 James Gillenwater, 10 Zach Pangelinan, 9 Robbie Shaw, 8 Matt Hawkins, 7 Rikus Pretorius (captain), 6 Dan La Prevotte, 5 Ben Wiedemer, 4 Lou Stanfill, 3 Shawn Pittman, 2 Joey Brown, 1 Mate Moeakiola.
Replacements: 16 Saimone Laulaupeaalu, 17 Mark Kernen, 18 Samual Manoa, 19 Scott Lavalla, 20 Mose Timoteo, 21 Tyson Meek, 22 Volney Rouse.
Canada West: 15 Phil Mack, 14 Sean Duke, 13 Bryn Keys, 12 Ben Grant, 11 Brock Nicholson, 10 Matt Evans, 9 Spencer Dalziel, 8 Tom McKeen, 7 Adam Kleeberger, 6 Neil Meechan, 5 Jeff Oudyk, 4 Nolan Miles, 3 Emil Christensen, 2 Pat Riordan, 1 Hubert
Buydens.
Replacements: 16 Ryan Hamilton, 17 Rogan Verboven, 18 Struan Robertson, 19 Nanyak Dala, 20 Jason Marshall, 21 Robin MacDowell, 22 Nick Blevins.
* The North America 4 consolation match between the US Hawks and their cross-border counterparts Canada East met a frustrating end, as the US caught a last minute scoring break to secure a 17-17 draw.
"At the beginning of the match I asked them to play physical as a team but most importantly, as individuals. However, they didn't apply themselves and instead backed away," said US Hawks coach Marty Wiggins, singling out the top notch efforts of lock John Van der Giessen and US Rugby All-American Hayden Smith, who turned in an impressive performance despite just having returned from the recent New Zealand tour.
In a fairly even start, each team maintained its fair share of possession, with neither catching a scoring break until more than 20 minutes in when the US Hawks went up 3-0 off a penalty kick from Mark Roberts.
Despite a handful of missed opportunities and fumbled passes, the Hawks defence held up impressively, holding the Canadians from scoring even when a grubber kick pushed East within range of the try zone inside minute 29.
Two minutes later, the US would grow their lead by another seven points when wing Brendan Brown picked off a pass from Canada No.8 Aaron Carpenter and bolted more than 50 meters to touch in the Hawk's first try on the day. Roberts again proved successful with the conversion to make it 10-0.
Inside minute 33 however, No.8 Carpenter found redemption with Canada's first try of the game and Steven Piatek's accurate boot brought the East back into it 10-7.
Before switching sides, Canada's Tyler Wish would journey back into the try zone and the Piatek conversion put the score up to 14-10 at 37 minutes, where it would remain heading into the half.
After the break, the Hawks emerged from the locker rooms with a strong team effort, putting up a stiff fight to hold the game scoreless until the 55th minute when Canada capitalized on a penalty kick opportunity, with Piatek effortlessly booting one home to surge the East further ahead to 17-10.
As the game pressed on, neither side could muster quite enough, resulting in a second half scoreless spell that lasted until minute 78 - when local favourite Pat Quinn took one in for a somewhat disputed try, with Mark Roberts notching the extras to tie it up with no time left, leaving the scoreline stuck at 17-17.
"The boys were fabulous, they didn't deserve to lose and drew the short end of the stick in the last play. To give credit to the Hawks, they kept going and going and put themselves in position to score the last try," said Canada East coach Simon Blanks, who was a bit disappointed in the ruling near the end.
"They deserved the try but not the way they got it.
"In this year' tournament, the US Hawks were the only team that have beaten the East by more than one try – for them to come back and for us to hold them to 17-all, was a great way to end it. I was delighted with the way they came back into this game."
Scorers:
United States Hawks:
Tries: Brown, Quinn
Cons: Roberts 2
Pen: Roberts
Canada East:
Tries: Carpenter, Wish
Cons: Piatek 2
Pen: Piatek
Teams:
United States Hawks: 15 Mark Roberts, 14 Brendan Brown, 13 Keiki Misipeka, 12 Hanno Dirksen, 11 Justin Boyd, 10 Chad Erskine, 9 Mike Petri (captain), 8 Pat Quinn, 7 Jason Lett, 6 Nic Johnson, 5 John Van der Giessen, 4 Hayden Smith, 3 Brian Lemay, 2 Phil Abraham, 1 Jon Vitale.
Replacements: 16 Brian Olmes, 17 Phil Thiel, 18 Brian Doyle, 19 Mark Aylor, 20 Owen Collins, 21 Justin Hundley, 22
Travis Meidinger.
Canada East: 15 Ciaran Hearn, 14 Thom Dutchak, 13 Derek Daypuck, 12 Tyler Wish, 11 Marc Cuglietta, 10 Steven Piatek, 9 Adam Schouten, 8 Aaron Carpenter, 7 Chauncey O'Toole, 6 Nolan Ott, 5 Stu Ault (captain), 4 Scott Dunham, 3 Mike Pletch, 2 Tom Malin, 1 Tyler Hawes.
Replacements: 16 Doug Wooldridge, 17 Dion Varvarikos, 18 Toni Wodzicki, 19 Keegan Selby, 20 Colin Brown, 21 Dan West, 22 Jordan Kozina
