The United States secured a spot in its first Plate Final of the season by beating rival Canada 28-15. The victory snaps a long losing streak to Canada, which spanned back to 2012.
Canada jumped on the board first after taking possession following the opening kickoff. The Canadians worked the ball through several phases and Chauncey O’Toole ran in off a point-blank penalty. The conversion attempt was missed – 5-0.
But not for long. The ensuing restart went long, Madison Hughes caught it, juked one tackler, beat Harry Jones to the corner, and gassed all the way for the try, which he converted. 7-5 USA.
Jones tried to erase that mistake on Canada’s next possession. The northern neighbors took the restart, and Jones slid in after several phases to put Canada up 10-7.
Canada’s Conor Trainor then made a nice run before being bundled into touch. On the ensuing lineout, the Eagles’ throw was deemed not straight, giving the Canadians an attacking lineout. They took the ball cleanly, moved it wide to Sean Duke on the wing and extended their lead to 15-7 going into intermission.
The Eagles kicked off to start the second half, won the restart, worked the ball up, and capitalized when Canada was called for a penalty. Andrew Durutalo toed through the ball five meters from pay dirt and dove for the line, soaking up a couple of defenders. Brett Thompson then crashed over the line. Converted, the scored pulled the USA within one at 15-14.
The Eagles then took the lead when Danny Barrett stepped to the inside shoulder of Jones and scampered between the posts. The conversion stretched the score to 21-15 USA.
Canada seemed to have answered when Jones made a clean break of his own, but a tremendous hustle play from Nick Edwards to catch Jones and go for the poach resulted in a turnover. One more penalty and an extremely violent Barrett stiffarm later, and Mike Palefau scored to extend the lead to 28-15 with under a minute to play.
The USA then tackled Canada into touch, won the lineout, and cleared the ball back out to secure the win. Up next for the USA is the Plate Final against Australia.
USA 28
Tries: Barrett, Thompson, Hughes, Palefau
Cons: Hughes (4)
Canada 15
Tries: O’Toole, Duke, Jones