NORTH Shore players featured prominently as Canada booked their ticket to the 2015 IRB Rugby World Cup by beating the United States 40-20 in aggregate score over home and away games played recently in South Carolina and Toronto.
West Vancouver's Harry Jones and Ryan Hamilton, North Vancouver's Jason Marshall and Squamish's Jamie Cudmore, a former Capilano Rugby Club player, all suited up for the men's national team as they battled to a pair of wins over the American Eagles.
The series started Aug. 17 in Charleston, S.C., and Canada took a commanding lead by scoring a 27-9 victory away from home.
The Canadians took an early lead in the game off of a nifty try from Phil Mack who tracked down his own chip-kick to make it 7-0 with a James Pritchard conversion. Pritchard added two penalties to make it 13-0 at halftime but U.S.A. got on the board with a penalty early in the second.
That's when Jones, making his third national team start at flyhalf, stepped up and put an end to any American momentum. The Rockridge grad turned heads with his tackling and command of the Canadian backs and then, in the 50th minute, finished a powerful Canadian move by smashing through two tacklers to score a back-breaking try.
DTH van der Merwe scored the final try of the game, pushing Canada home with a big advantage. The second leg was played Aug. 24 at a raucous BMO Field and, although it wasn't pretty, the home side did what they needed to clinch a World Cup berth for the eighth time in eight tries - Canada has qualified for every World Cup since the tournament's inception in 1987.
In Toronto the Americans put up more of a fight, scoring the first try of the game and putting pressure on the Canadians for much of the first half. The tide turned near the end of the half, however, when Pritchard kicked in a penalty and then crossed over for a try after taking a nice feed from Jones off of a lineout. An American penalty kick made the score 8-8 at halftime, keeping the aggregate lead at a healthy-but-not-unreachable 18 points with one half to play.
With the win in the balance it was again time for a North Shore player to step up as Marshall smashed over the line to score the only try of the second half. U.S.A. kicked a late penalty but the final score of 13-11 gave Canada another win over their North American rivals and sent them to England 2015.
Cudmore, Hamilton and Marshall have all suited up for World Cups in the past but for 23-year-old Jones the tournament in England would be his first.
"Stoked to be qualified for the 2015 RWC," Jones posted on Twitter following the win. "Great to finish off the trip with another win!" Canada was the first country to win direct qualification into the tournament, joining 12 other teams who earned automatic berths. With several spots already filled, the Canadians already have an idea of what their schedule will look like. They'll open the tournament against Ireland on Sept. 19, 2015, before moving on to face Italy, France and another team that will emerge from the European qualifiers. The Canadians have moved past the World Cup opening round just once in their seven appearances at the tournament.
Another North Shore link helped Canada to a strong finish in men's national team sevens play. North Vancouver's Adam Zaruba suited up for Team Canada as they earned bronze at The World Games held in Cali, Colombia last month.
Canada defeated Hong Kong and Colombia but lost to South Africa to finish second in their pool. They then knocked off Brazil in the quarterfinals but lost to Argentina in the semis to wind up in the bronze medal game. With a medal on the line the Canadians rallied for a 26-14 win over France.
The World Games, first held in 1981, are an in international, multi-event competition featuring sports that are not part of the Olympic Games. The 2013 World Games were the final appearance for rugby sevens as that sport will be contested at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janiero, Brazil.
