The 2019 CanAm Series between the USA Women’s Rugby National Team and Canada concluded on 24 October with Canada defeating the Women’s Eagles 52-27. Canada also won the first match on 20 October 19-0 to sweep the series.
With the Canadian win, Canada moved up in the World Rugby rankings to third-place behind New Zealand and England, while the USA dropped to sixth-place behind Australia in fifth-place, while France is in fourth.
The USA controlled possession and territory for the first quarter of the match and jumped to a 10-0 lead. Canada came back to take a narrow 19-15 lead at the break and then dominated the rest of the match. Credit the Women’s Eagles for continuing to attack and adding the final try of the match.
Some rugby pundits took issue with my tweet that the CanAm Series is good for North American rugby indicating that the results may not support that. Canada is a formidable opponent and playing more test rugby matches provides high-performance opportunities for players and allows coaches to develop new talent. That is especially important when targeting the Rugby World Cup in 2021. The performance was not indicative of their full potential.
Sarah Levy scored two tries in the match, from offloads by Alycia Washington and by Emily Heinrich. Bui Baravilala, who was stellar all match, added another try with Kate Zackary scoring a fourth try after the 80th minute.
Match 2 Scoring
USA 27 Tries – S. Levy 2, B. Baravilala, K. Zackary Cons – B. Baravilala 2 Pens – B. Baravilala
Canada 52 Tries – O. DeMerchant, A Corrigan 2, D. Menin, G. Boag, T. Black, S. de Goede, T. Levale Cons – B. Miller 5, I. Patrinos Yellow cards – C. Holtkamp
Squads
USA: 1 Catie Benson, 2 Kathryn Treder, 3 Nick James, 4 Kristine Sommer, 5 Alycia Washington, 6 Nicole Strasko, 7 Kate Zackary (capt.), 8 Katie Johnson, 9 Carly Waters, 10 Bui Baravilala, 11 Sarah Levy, 12 Amy Naber-Bonté, 13 Emily Henrich, 14 Jennine Duncan, 15 Leti Hingano 16 Joanna Kitlinski, 17 Maya Learned, 18 Charli Jacoby, 19 Frieda Fetu’u, 20 Rachel Johnson, 21 Ashlee Byrge, 22 Gabby Cantorna, 23 Kaitlyn Broughton
Canada: 1 Olivia DeMerchant (capt.), 2 Gillian Boag, 3 DaLeaka Menin, 4 Tyson Beukeboom, 5 McKinley Hunt, 6 Sophie de Goede, 7 Janna Slevinsky, 8 Fabiola Forteza, 9 Brianna Miller, 10 Taylor Black, 11 Madison Grant, 12 Tausani Levale, 13 Alysha Corrigan, 14 Paige Farries, 15 Alex Tessier 16 Mackenzie Carson, 17 Brittany Kassil, 18 Mikiela Nelson, 19 Courtney Holtkamp, 20 Emma Taylor, 21 Marie-Pier Fauteaux, 22 Lori Josephson, 23 Irene Patrinos
USA STAFF
Director of Women’s High-Performance Emilie Bydwell
Head Coach Rob Cain
Assistant Coach Jamie Burke
Assistant Coach Kate Daley
Assistant Coach Rich Ashfield
Coach/Team Manager Jenny Lui
Head Strength & Conditioning Coach Ian Jones
Assistant Strength & Conditioning Coach Conor Sweeney
Head Performance Analyst Dave Gardner
Assistant Performance Analyst Callum Howells
Team Doctor Terrence Cronin
Athletic Trainer Bri Arsenault
Athletic Trainer Katherine Henry
Match 1- November 20, 2019
Photo: Griff Lacey
The USA Women’s National Team XVs fell to Canada 0-19 in the first of a two-match series of their Fall Internationals. The match was played under challenging conditions, with the wind, rain and slick grass impacting handling, as well as strategy.
Amy Naber-Bonte and Leti Hingano had some strong carries, but the opportunities inside Canada’s 22-meters were too few.
The match consisted of tactical kicking and numerous scrums due to the handling.
Around the 30th minute, with Canada only up by seven, the USA’s Catie Benson was held up in-goal. Later Kate Zackary would nearly score before the ball was knocked on and multiple trips inside the opposition 22 were halted by handling errors.
Canada scored two more tries at the end of the first half and beginning of the second half. Canadian winger Irene Patrinos found a margin of space in the corner and Janna Slevinsky caught the U.S. off guard and squeezed through a patch of space.
From the 60th minute and into the early 70s, the Eagles threatened inside the Canadian 22, but could not score. The match ended two minutes early due to lightning in the area.
Five new players earned caps for the Eagles in Frieda Fetuu, 2016 Olympian Kathryn Johnson, Leti Hingano, Kathryn Treder and Maya Learned.
Scoring
USA 0
Canada 19 Tries – D. Menin (9′), I. Patrinos (36′), J. Slevinsky (42′) Cons – B. Miller 2/3 (10′, 37′)
TEAMS
USA: 1 Catie Benson, 2 Joanna Kitlinski (16 Kathryn Treder 62′), 3 Charli Jacoby (17 Nick James 66′), 4 Kristine Sommer (19 Nicole Strasko 60′), 5 Frieda Fetu’u (20 Alycia Washington 47′), 6 Rachel Johnson, 7 Kate Zackary (capt.), 8 Katie Johnson, 9 Carly Waters (21 Olivia Ortiz 62′), 10 Gabby Cantorna (22 Katana Howard 64 {18 Maya Learned 71}), 11 Jennine Duncan, 12 Amy Naber-Bonté (23 Bui Baravilala 67′), 13 Emily Henrich, 14 Kaitlyn Broughton, 15 Leti Hingano
Canada: 1 Olivia DeMerchant (capt.), 2 Gillian Boag, 3 DaLeaka Menin, 4 Tyson Beukeboom, 5 McKinley Hunt, 6 Sophie de Goede, 7 Janna Slevinsky, 8 Fabiola Forteza, 9 Brianna Miller, 10 Taylor Black, 11 Madison Grant, 12 Tausani Levale, 13 Paige Farries, 14 Irene Patrinos, 15 Alex Tessier 16 Mackenzie Carson, 17 Brittany Kassil, 18 Mikiela Nelson, 19 Courtney Holtkamp, 20 Emma Taylor, 21 Lori Josephson, 22 Alysha Corrigan, 23 Shoshanah Seumanutafa
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