USA qualifies for u20 Trophy with clean sweep of Canada

The USA have qualified for the World Rugby u20 Trophy after sweeping Canada in their two-game qualifying series in Spartanburg. A final score of 39-14 in the second match on Saturday left the aggregate score of 82-35 in favor of the Americans.

Cameron McAlpine opened the scoring for the home side with a breakaway down the left sideline. The Canadians responded quickly when Noah Flesch broke through the midfield, with Owain McCormack’s conversion nudging the visitors ahead.

A yellow card to Jeffrey Young left the Canadians down a man but the USA couldn’t capitalise. Eventually Ollie Cline landed a penalty goal to put the home side ahead, but Craig Mitchell-Hermann touched down in the corner with McCormack’s kick again on target.

Another yellow, this time to Flesch, was more significant. Dominic Besag punched through for a try where the midfielder might have been, and then Corbin Smith stepped past his opposite to make it 22-14 to the USA at halftime.

The second half was dominated by the USA with Dylan Fortune, Aaron Faison, and finally Cormac Saint scoring tries. Cline would finish with three conversions to add to his three-pointer.

Kenya will host the u20 Trophy that will take place from July 15 to 30. The USA will compete against Scotland, Uruguay, and Zimbabwe in pool play. It’s the first time they have qualified for the tournament since 2016. It was last contested in 2019 due to the pandemic.

 

SCORING

USA 39
Tries (6) – C. McAlpine. D Besag, C. Smith, D. Fortune, A. Faison. C. Saint
Cons (3) – O. Cline 3
Pens (1) – O. Cline

CANADA 14
Tries (2) – N. Flesch, C. Mitchell-Hermann
Cons (2) – O. McCormack 2
YC (2) – J. Young, N. Flesch

 

TEAMS

USA u20
1 Thomas Wagner, 2 Caden Crist (capt.), 3 Connor Devos, 4 Dylan Fortune, 5 Will Sherman, 6 Cameron McAlpine, 7 Hayden McKay, 8 Aidan Christians, 9 Cormac Saint, 10 Hugh O’Kennedy, 11 Sosaia Pongi, 12 Aki Pulu, 13 Dominic Besag, 14 Corbin Smith, 15 Steffan Crimp

Replacements: 16 Gabriel Hayden, 17 Trevion Reed, 18 Leon Best, 19 Logan Ballinger, 20 Henry Duke, 21 Ollie Cline, 22 Thomas Hannon, 23 Aaron Faison

CANADA u20
1 Aaron Clark, 2 Jeffrey Young, 3 Cole Kelly (capt.), 4 Sol Jacques, 5 Caden Wilson, 6 Grant Meadows, 7 Taine Clague, 8 Olly Wiseman, 9 Stephen Webb, 10 Brenden Black, 11 James Thiel, 12 Noah Flesch, 13 Liam Poulton, 14 Craig Mitchell-Hermann, 15 Owain Cormack

Replacements: 16 Jordan Auger, 17 Evan Roy, 18 Charles Trollip, 19 Muiredach Casey, 20 Lachlan McGrigor, 21 Brady White, 22 Marcus D’Acre, 23 Alistair Marshall

 

MATCH OFFICIALS

Referee: Robin Kaluzniak (Canada)