A.J. MacGinty hit a drop goal in the 80th minute as the U.S.A. edged Canada 15-13 at the Pacific Nations Cup Monday in Burnaby.
Canada had gone ahead in the 71st minute as Nick Blevins pierced through the U.S. backline and ran over half the field for his second try in as many matches. Liam Underwood converted giving Canada a 13-12 lead.
However, the Americans got within the 22-metre line, slowly inching towards the line before setting up MacGinty, who connected to give the U.S. a fifth-place finish at the Pacific Nations Cup.
“It’s another disappointing loss for us,” Canada captain Aaron Carpenter said in a Rugby Canada press release. “We gave a full performance but I think we stopped playing a little bit at the end there. We let them come at us and we played scared at the end because we’ve lost a couple of tight games in the last couple of outings … test matches evolve around small little things.
“We used this tournament to build and there’s a lot of pieces in the right place. There’s a lot of competition for places and no one’s spot is guaranteed.”
Canada lost Wednesday night to Samoa on a last-minute try in Toronto and suffered a similar fate on Monday.
“We just weren’t good enough,” Canada head coach Kieran Crowley said in the release. “They had three yellow cards and we couldn’t capitalize. It’s pretty disappointing.”
Canada went ahead only four minutes in as Underwood slotted home a penalty but MacGinty responded with a penalty of his own in the 11th minute. He gave the U.S. a 6-3 lead in the 22nd minute, and minutes later was into Canadian territory as he broke through the line. However, Greg Peterson was sin-binned at the end of the play, but MacGinty wasn’t deterred as he kicked his third penalty of the game to make it 9-3 in the 25th minute.
John Moonlight joined Peterson in the bin a couple of minutes later and Canada went on the attack but couldn’t find a way through the stingy Eagles defense. MacGinty added a fourth penalty before the interval to make it 12-3 for the U.S.
“A.J. has been playing great for us,” American captain Chris Wyles said in the release. “He showed a lot of composure with that drop goal and his game management has been superb. He’s a great kicker and a real asset. I’m really excited about him growing in this role with us.”
Canada got the first points of the second half when Underwood converted a penalty that had been set up by a blazing Carpenter run, and minutes later the U.S. were down to 10 men again in the 49th minute as Danny Barrett went to the bin for a hit on Jeff Hassler. MacGinty was next to go to the sin bin in the 63rd minute and despite having a man advantage for the majority of a 20-minute stretch, Canada couldn’t capitalize until the final minute of MacGinty’s yellow card as Blevins dived over.
The two sides have met more than 50 times, with Canada holding a 38-14-1 record over their rivals south of the border.
Monday's match was the first of two straight meetings between the two sides as they are set to face off again on Aug. 22 in Ottawa.
“We’ve built on everything and gone forward,” Crowley said of Canada’s PNC campaign. “We’d like to have at least got one result go our way. We’ve had a couple of (one-, two-point) losses and we’ve got to win those games.”
Canada’s Roster vs. USA in the Pacific Nations Cup – (Club), Hometown, Province
1 - Hubert Buydens – (Castaway Wanderers/Prairie Wolf Pack) Saskatoon, SK
2 - Aaron Carpenter – Captain (Cornish Pirates/Ontario Blues) Brantford, ON
3 – Jake Ilnicki – (Eastern Suburbs RFC/B.C. Bears) Williams Lake, BC
4 - Jon Phelan - (Doncaster Knights/Atlantic Rock) Montreal, QB
5 - Brett Beukeboom - (Cornish Pirates) Lindsay, ON
6 - Kyle Gilmour - (Rotherham Titans/Prairie Wolf Pack) St. Albert, AB
7 - John Moonlight - (James Bay AA/Ontario Blues) Pickering, ON
8 - Richard Thorpe - (London Welsh) Beckenham, England
9 – Jamie Mackenzie – (UBCOB Ravens/Ontario Blues) Oakville, ON
10 - Liam Underwood - (Balmy Beach RFC/Ontario Blues) Toronto, ON
11 – Conor Trainor – (UBCOB Ravens/B.C. Bears) Vancouver
12 - Connor Braid - (Unattached/B.C. Bears) Victoria
13 - Ciaran Hearn - (Castaway Wanderers/Atlantic Rock) Conception Bay South, NL
14 - Jeff Hassler - (Ospreys) Okotoks, AB
15 – Harry Jones – (Capilano RFC/B.C. Bears) Vancouver
16 – Ray Barkwill – (Castaway Wanderers/Ontario Blues) Niagara Falls, ON
17 - Djustice Sears-Duru - (Oakville Crusaders/Ontario Blues) Oakville, ON
18 - Doug Wooldridge - (Lindsay RFC/Ontario Blues) Lindsay, ON
19 – Evan Olmstead – (Parramatta Two Blues/Prairie Wolf Pack) Calgary, AB
20 – Nanyak Dala – (Castaway Wanderers/Prairie Wolf Pack) Regina, SK
21 - Phil Mack - (James Bay AA/B.C. Bears) Victoria
22 – Nick Blevins – (Calgary Hornets/Prairie Wolf Pack) Calgary, AB
23 – James Pritchard – (Bedford Blues) Parkes, NSW, Australia
