| MATCH REPORT: CANADA v BELGIUM |
| Canada has defeated Belgium by a score of 24 - 5 in their second match at the 2011 Wellington Festival. After suffering a hard-fought defeat to England in their opening contest, the team spent time analyzing their performance in an evening video session. The win will be a boost for the young Canadians, but Coach Jim Delaney had mixed feelings about the result: "The players did a good job of addressing the areas of opportunity from last night’s video session, so the coaching staff is pleased with that. We attempted to play the fast and physical game we have promoted throughout the past two years, and the boys created many opportunities. Ultimately, they could only convert four of those chances into points, but the hard work was there." Canada opened the scoring early with an Isaac Pickell try, moments into in the first-half. Adam McQueen converted, to make the score 7 - 0, and Canada was on the board. Having seen how well organized the Belgians were in their first match, the Canadians knew they would not be in for an easy encounter. Belgium is one of Europe's up-and-coming rugby nations, as Canada's National Senior Men's Team discovered on their 2010 November tour. "Belgium played extremely well and were committed to their cause, making some huge tackles, so well done to them. They put us under pressure many times, and scored a well-deserved try." Despite allowing the Belgian score, Canada continued to push forward in the second-half. A six phase attack deep into the Belgian twenty-two resulted in a Chris Woodhead score under the posts. The conversion was missed, but Canada were extending thier lead. Just minutes later, a pick-up at the back of a Canadian scrum led to a driving maul. Impact sub, Djustice Sear-Duru, broke away and powered over for another Canadian try; making it 17 - 5 for Canada. The final Canadian score came from a well executed 4 on 3 attack, which Jeremy Gardner finished off. The conversion from Fergus Hall was good, which saw Canada finish the game with a 24 - 5 victory. Despite the constant demand for strong results, every member of the U17 team is consistently working to improve his individual performance, and Coach Delaney highlighted a few areas the team would target for improvement. "We are happy with the win, but we struggled in a couple of areas at the breakdown in the first-half. Belgium competed very well and some head down rugby resulted, with options open outside. Our play was direct, but once we drew in the defense and got the ball wide, it was our inability to finish line-breaks or get around the corner of the defense that cost us the most." Canada will now go through the same reflection and analysis process, in order to prepare to maximum effect for their final match versus France; a team Canada beat 38 - 15 when last they met at Wellington. Head Coach Jim Delaney: “Well, we made hard work of the win this afternoon, but any win at this festival is an achievement. This young Canadian side played with a lot of endeavor but just could not put the game away. We didn’t have to talk too much after the game, because the players understand the number opportunities we left on the field. We will go through the video and identify exactly where those chances were and come up with targets for the French game on Friday. At present I believe France are ahead of England, late in the second-half of their second round match, so we will be in tough." Canada Tries: Pickell, Woodhead, Sears-Duru, Gardner Big Hit Of The Day: Isaac Pickell Final Score: Canada (24) vs. Belgium (5) Canada U17 Roster vs. Belgium: |
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