World Rugby Repechage: Canada vs. Hong Kong

Canada defeated Hong Kong 27-10 in the final World Rugby repechage match in Marseille, France and to win the repechage. In the other match, Germany defeated Kenya 43-6 and finished in second place in the repechage, with Hong Kong third and Kenya in fourth.

As the result of winning the World Rugby Repechage, Canada will advance to the 2019 Rugby World Cup in Japan in Pool B alongside defending champions New Zealand, South Africa, Italy, and Namibia.

Match Recap

Hong Kong controlled the majority of possession during the first 12 minutes. The team lost Tyler Spitz in the 2nd minute and he was replaced by Max Woodward. Canada’s defense was stellar and survived several 5-meter scrums and a couple of cross-kicks before creating a scrum penalty to clear.

Kyle Baillie stripped the ball from a defender and was off on their first attack, advancing the ball to within 5-meters of the line. A knock on resulted in a 5-meter scrum for Hong Kong. The ball was cleared and Theo Sauder evaded several defenders before offloading to DTH Van der Merwe. Canada maintaining possession and Ray Barkwill scored under the posts. Gordon McRorie slotted the easy conversion to take a 7-0 lead.

Hong Kong’s Liam Slatem appeared to score from an offload by Ben Axten-Burrett, but after a TMO Conor Hartley was ruled to have knocked on and were penalized allowing Canada to clear.

A penalty by Canada allowed Hong Kong to cut the lead to 7-3 after a Matt Rosslee kick. On the restart, DTH Van der Merwe blocked a Rosslee clearance kick and gathered and scored a try. McRorie’s conversion was on target for a 14-3 lead.

Gordon McRorie was sent to the bin with a little over a minute before the break for an intentional knock on. Hong Kong attacked from a lineout and after multiple picks, were penalized allowing Canada to clear and take a 14-3 lead into the break.

Second Half

Hong Kong had the first scoring opportunity after a break by Liam Slatem, but an offload was knocked on into Canada’s hands within 10-meters of the line.

Hong Kong’s next opportunity had Conor Hartley scoring a try in the right corner. After Rosslee’s conversion, the score was cut to 14-10. Canada tried to answer back, but a McRorie penalty kick was wide left.

McRorie then slotted consecutive penalty kicks to push the lead to 20-10. Canada then mauled their way inside Hong Kong territory and swung the ball wide and DTH Van der Merwe evaded four defenders for a try in the left corner. McRorie added the conversion for a 27-10 lead.

With eight minutes left, Hong Kong needed tries and after a Canada penalty kicked for territory instead of points. An errant pass thwarted their attack and resulted in a Canada scrum.

Canada emerged with a 27-10 win, going undefeated in the repechage and will advance to the 2019 Rugby World Cup, their 9th.

Squads

Canada: 1. Hubert Buydens 2. Ray Barkwill 3. Matt Tierney 4. Mike Sheppard 5. Evan Olmstead 6. Kyle Baillie 7. Lucas Rumball 8. Tyler Ardron 9. Phil Mack – Captain 10. Gordon McRorie 11. DTH van der Merwe 12. Ciaran Hearn 13. Ben LeSage 14. Taylor Paris 15. Theo Sauder 16. Eric Howard 17. Djustice Sears-Duru 18. Jake Ilnicki 19. Brett Beukeboom 20. Matt Heaton 21. Jamie Mackenzie 22. Nick Blevins 23. Conor Trainor

Hong Kong: 1 Dan Barlow 2 Dayne Jans 3 Grant Kemp 4 Craig Lodge 5 Fin Field 6 James Cunningham (C) 7 Toby Fenn 8 Thomas Lamboley 9 Liam Slatem 10 Matt Rosslee11 Conor Hartley 12 Ben Axten-Burrett 13 Tyler Spitz 14 Salom Yiu 15 Casey Stone 16 Alex Post 17 Ben Higgins 18 Jack Parfitt 19 Michael Parfitt 20 Nick Hewson 21 Jamie Lauder 22 Jamie Hood 23 Max Woodward