Canada 23 Wales 32: WALES COACH Robin McBryde has promised to make every player work hard for selection ahead of next week's Test against the United States following a below-par outing against Canada yesterday
The tourists, minus the Welsh contingent in South Africa with the Lions, were made to sweat at York University Stadium as Canada took a 6-0 lead and then kept the game alive with two second-half tries before Wales ran out 32-23 winners.
Despite fielding an inexperienced side with 10 players sharing 34 caps between them, including two debutant starters in fullback Daniel Evans and centre Jonathan Davies, McBryde expressed his disappointment.
“It was a tough match. We knew that Canada would hold in there for the full 80 (minutes) and credit to them, they did,” McBryde said.
“There was nothing given and we had to fight for every point that we got.”
Tries from wingers Chris Czekaj and Tom James and eight kicks out of eight from outhalf Dan Biggar in his first start for Wales kept the home side at bay but the caretaker coach wants to see every cap for next Saturday’s match in Chicago earned the hard way.
“The thing that is a little bit of dampener is the level of performance, where, perhaps if we had taken all of those opportunities the scoreboard would have reflected a little bit better and we would have deserved to have the score mounting up,” McBryde said.
Two penalties from James Pritchard, who plays for Bedford in England, put Canada ahead early in front of 8,450 fans.
Czekaj then capitalised on a lapse in defence to score a try and Biggar’s conversion put Wales ahead. Another penalty from Ospreys’ Biggar stretched the lead, then he and Pritchard exchanged penalties as Wales led 9-16 at the interval.
Canada pressed early in the second half, as Ed Fairhurst sent Sean Duke clear for a try and Pritchard’s conversion levelled the score at 16-16. Tom James responded with a try for Wales, and Biggar’s conversion and two penalties gave the tourists a 13-point advantage.
Canada clawed back with a try from Fairhurst, who finished off a move by Canadian captain Par Riordan and Pritchard converted to narrow the gap to 23-29.
Wales thought they had a try when Gareth Williams appeared to get across the line in the 72nd minute, but a video review disallowed the score.
An ensuing penalty, however, was converted by Biggar for the final score.
Wales travel to Chicago for the Test next Saturday against the US. McBryde and the Wales medical staff were assessing injuries with Cardiff Blues lock Bradley Davies given the most attention having come off in the second half with a neck problem.
CANADA: J Pritchard; C Hearn, DTH van der Merwe, R Smith, S Duke, A Monro, E Fairhurst; Kevin Tkachuk, Pat Riordan (capt), A Tiedemann, M Burak, L Tait, J Sinclair, A Kleeberger,A Carpenter. Replacements: M Pletch, D Wooldridge, T Hotson, N Dala, M Evans, D Spicer, P Mack. Tries: Duke, Fairhurst. Cons: Pritchard 2. Pens: Pritchard 3.
WALES: D Evans, T James, J Davies, A Bishop, C Czekaj, D Biggar, G Cooper; D Jones, R Hibbard, J Yapp, B Davies, D Jones, D Jones, R Sowden-Taylor, R Jones (capt), Replacements: G Williams, C Mitchell, I Gough, S Warburton, D Peel, N Robinson, J Spratt. Tries: Czekaj, T. James. Cons: Biggar 2. Pens: Biggar 6.
Referee: M Goddard(Australia).
