Canada Comes Up Short at the 21st World Rugby Classic

A determined Canadian side was not quite up to task at the 21st annual World Rugby Classic held November 9th to 15th in sunny Bermuda as we were soundly beaten by Australia and France. Although on paper we had some fresh legs and outside speed the group was unable to score when opportunity presented itself and, similar to our National team in Europe right now, we were punished for fundamental mistakes by some very good rugby teams. GAME 1 Versus Australia November 09th at 2:30 PM This was a game that appeared winnable early on but the huge size of the Australian pack combined with some brilliant tactical kicking from the Aussies quickly put an end to any hopes. The Aussies scored at about the ten minute mark after a missed outside tackle and, although Canada dominated possession we were unable to breach some committed defence. Just prior to the half a break by Rob Robson and dish off to Chip Wilson seemed to put Canada close but the play was called back on a forward pass. Typical of this tournament, the Aussies then went coast to coast to score a converted try and the half time score was 14-0. The second half started out exactly how coach Spencer Robinson told his troops not to: kick not ten, Aussies pound a beauty deep off the re-start and then a poor Canadian line-out lead to an early and easy score by the big green and gold pack. 21-0 and with Canada flinging the ball around recklessly in an attempt to claw back into the game, the crafty Australians scored two more late tries, one converted to thrash Canada 33-0 in our opener. Sadly, we can fall back on the all-too-often heard Canadian rugby-ism of “the score-line didn’t really reflect the play of the game” but at the end of the day we got our arses handed to us by a very talented Australian team littered with big name players we have all watched in the tri-nations. A big after-match Party at our World-class sponsor The Swizzle Inn with a theme of Rock Stars later that night seemed to elevate some broken Canadian spirits. High-light being an impromptu stage performance by James Brown (AKA Roger Robinson) with “I Feel Good”. Many Aussies, South Africans and a few Brits came by to tip a few back on a very fun evening. GAME 2 Versus France Wednesday November 12th After a good training session, boat trip and some soul searching the Canadian Classics were looking forward to righting the ship against France. Again, the French side was dotted with 30-80 cap players and many recently retired or current professionals so the road was not any easier – especially after they had dominated ball control against a powerful Springbok team in their opener only to come up short at the final whistle. This game started out similar to the first one with some heavy hits and good Canadian possession but out Achilles heel was our inability to finish after ten or twelve good phases. In typical French fashion a few eye gouges and baggage squeezes saw several heated exchanges, but thankfully no one was seriously hurt. One of our interpreters after the game overheard a French forward claim that he got his index finger into Dave Hamilton’s eye so far it came out covered in saw-dust – Hammy looked like a Cyclops after the game. At any rate, the size of the French pack and the vaunted flare of the backs was more than we were able to handle and although we competed to the final whistle and made some of the eye-gougers and berry-squeezers pay for their indiscretions, the final score was 27-0 in favour of France. Like the BC Lions offence in the play-offs, we went “two and out” and headed to the beach/bar, heads held high, to invigorate the Bermudian economy.