Canada’s men’s rugby team faces Brazil in third-place play-off after loss to Spain – Rugby Canada

Canada’s men’s rugby team will face Brazil in the La Vila International Rugby Cup third-place play-off following Saturday’s 42-20 loss to Spain.

The new four-team tournament kicked off on November 11 at the El Pantano Stadium in Villajoyosa, in clear yet windy conditions. Against the hosts, Canada took an early lead on Peter Nelson’s penalty kick, but Spain responded quickly to turn the score in their favour. Spain doubled their points in the twelfth minute, followed by Nelson’s second penalty kick to cut the gap to 14-6. Three more converted tries from Spain gave the hosts a 35-6 lead at half-time.

„It’s disappointing. Going into the shed, I thought our warm-up looked really crisp and I thought our preparation was good all week. When the pressure came on, we didn’t respond well,” said captain Lucas Rumball, who is playing in his 50th cap for Canada. said in the first half. „We had a big goal streak at the start of the second half and didn’t want to give up. We go down a man and stick it out. We do our job, we work hard, and we’ll get back to the game somewhat. Now if you can do it from square one, that’s a whole different story.

Canada’s defense prevented Spain from adding to the score as the second half progressed despite two yellow cards. Gaining momentum and putting the pressure on Spain in their half, Canada pushed forward, with Cole Keith converting the team’s first try into a Nelson goal.

Coming off the bench, Mitch Richardson was the next Canadian player to score, diving upright for his first senior international try. Another conversion by Nelson made the score 35-20. However, a Spanish score with less than five minutes on the clock gave Spain a 42-20 victory, sending Canada into a third-place play-off against Brazil, having lost 48-3 to the USA earlier in the day.

„We’re really disappointed. We’ve got to get off to a good start in Tests and we’ve failed to do that again. It’s really disappointing to have a good second half and a bad first half,” head coach Kingsley Jones said. We were at the end, but we had to make sure we responded positively and quickly moved on to the next job. We defended admirably in the second half despite two yellow cards and that gave us confidence. The boys showed great pride and bravery, which they needed to do after a very disappointing first half. We will work hard this week and find a solution to ensure we start effectively against Brazil next week.

The match will be available live on TSN+, Canada’s sports leader’s new digital streaming service, with Canada taking on Brazil on November 18 (7:00am PT / 10:00am ET). TSN+ has an extensive slate of live sports coverage from around the world, including Rugby Canada matches. For more information on TSN+, including subscription options, visit TSN.ca/TSN+.