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Canada defeats defensive Portugal
August 19, 2007
Canada defeated a determined Portugal 42-12 but noted the victory still showed plenty of room for improvement as it looks toward next month's rugby World Cup.
While Canada scored six tries to the two of Portugal - who is also World Cup bound - Canada coach Ric Suggitt admitted he had been looking for better things at home.
"We met a bit of adversity against a scrappy side," said Suggitt, whose side missed out on several chances to make the score more lopsided.
"We're not going into panic mode because of this result. We have to iron out some rough spots but we'll be ready by September 9th when we play Wales, and for the other three World Cup games."
The Canadians had three tries in each half, with DTH van der Merwe scoring two, including one in the 39th minute that gave Canada a 20-7 halftime lead.
The first 20 minutes of the second half were key as Canada dominated. Van der Merwe's try in the 53rd minute was his fourth international try in his third international match, and after he took a pass from James Pritchard.
"On the first try, David Spicer gave me a pass and I just kept the legs moving til I got in," said the 21 year-old van der Merwe. "On the second, I wasn't really expecting the ball but Pritch threw me a great cut-out pass and I just had to get over the line."
Canada also had tries from Mike Pyke, Adam Kleeberger, Justin Mensah-Coker and Spicer.
But Portugal enjoyed the last word, working the ball almost the length of the field before replacement Jose Pinto went over in the corner at 72-minutes for a well-deserved try. Portugal's other try had come from Diogo Mateus.
"It was a good game of rugby," said Portugal coach Thomas Morais. "Canada played a very simple but effective game today, but we had a disastrous 20 minutes at the beginning of the second half.
"We lost concentration, lots of gaps in defense and not good in set pieces. We only played well for the first twenty-minutes and the last twenty-minutes."
However, the Portuguese impressed the home side.
"We did some good things today and other things we didn't do so well," said Canada captain Mike James. "Perhaps our expectations were too high. Maybe we're not used to having so much ball and being on attack all the time."
Agence France-Presse
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