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Four tries in the last quarter of the match gave Canada a comfortable 38-17 victory over Hong Kong at the neutral venue of Chambéry, France, on Saturday. It was far from a clinical performance, however, as the Maple Leafs floundered in the first half and trailed until the hour mark.
It was Hong Kong who largely controlled field position in the opening minutes. Canada couldn’t clear their end and repeatedly turned the ball over with poor kicking and handling errors. The scoring deadlock was broken at 20 minutes with Paul Altier knocked over a routine penalty goal.
Immediately after Isaac Olson was binned for what looked like incidental contact. The controversial decision gave Hong Kong an opportunity and they took at without hesitation. Jack Bartlett burst onto an offload and crashed over for the try, with Altier’s extras making it 10-nil.
With Olson still off the pitch Takoda McMullin had a shot at goal but pulled the penalty attempt wide left. This time the Canadians kept the pressure on, however, and Nic Benn followed the forwards to take the ball over from close range. McMullin converted as the referee showed yellow to Faizal Solomona for cynical play. In the background Dana Fourie was helped off with a lower leg injury, but Hong Kong held a 10-7 advantage through to halftime.
Not long after the intermission Jack Combes slipped through on the edge of a ruck and found Altier in support for the finish. He converted his own try to stretch the lead to 17-7. Canada called for reinforcements with Jason Higgins and Matthew Oworu adding impetus to the attack.
With some forward momentum at last, the Canadians pressed with a Tyler Ardron offload putting Spencer Jones through. The try was waved off after the referee ruled an obstruction, but on the very next sequence a collapsed maul yielded seven points to the Maple Leafs and a yellow card to Josh Hrstich for the foul.
McMullin’s long break down the right sideline set up a quick recycle, with Jones crossing unopposed to give the Canadians their first lead at 60 minutes. Andrew Quattrin was next to find the line, the hooker crashing over on the back of mail. Sam Miller bashed in at 75 minutes and McMullin put the finishing touches on the win with a clean breakaway in the dying seconds of the match.
The two sides conclude their Nations Cup accounts next weekend. Canada heads to Bucharest to take on Romania, while Hong Kong return home to host Tonga in Kowloon on Saturday.
| SCORING |
HONG KONG 17
Tries (2) – J. Bartlett (23′), P. Altier (42′)
Cons (2) – P. Altier 2/2 (24′, 43′)
Pens (1) – P. Altier 1/1 (20′)
YC (2) – F. Solomona (35′), J. Hrstich (52′)
CANADA 38
Tries (5) – N. Benn (35′), Penalty try (52′), S. Jones (60′), A. Quattrin (65′), S. Miller (75′), T. McMullin (79′)
Cons (3) – T. McMullin 3/5 (36′, 61′, 80′), No kick (52′)
Pens (0) – T. McMullin 0/1
YC (1) – I. Olson (22′)
| TEAMS |
HONG KONG
1 Sunia Fameitau (17 Thomas Concu 57′), 2 Alex Post (16 Harry Baron 56′), 3 Faizal Solomona (18 Keelan Chapman 56′), 4 James Rivers, 5 Max Murphy (19 Lachlan Doheny 52′), 6 Jack Bartlett (5 Max Murphy 68′), 7 Dana Fourie (20 Callum McCullough 36′), 8 Josh Hrstich (capt.), 9 Jack Combes (21 Eric Chui 73′), 10 Joe Barker, 11 Harry Sayers (22 Seb Brien 63′), 12 Isaac Campbell-Wu, 13 Marcus Ramage, 14 Paul Altier, 15 Dylan McCann (18 Keelan Chapman 38′-45′) (23 Matt Worley 58′)
CANADA
1 Cali Martinez (17 Sam Miller 61′), 2 Andrew Quattrin (16 Dewald Kotze 66′), 3 Kyle Steeves (18 Cole Keith 61′), 4 Daragh Doyle (19 Izzak Kelly 73′), 5 Evan Olmstead (20 Matthew Oworu 47′), 6 Matt Beukeboom, 7 Sion Perry, 8 Tyler Ardron, 9 Jesse Kilgour (21 Jason Higgins HT), 10 Spencer Jones (22 Jack Gore 78′), 11 Nic Benn, 12 Ben LeSage (capt.), 13 Isaac Olson (23 Josh Thiel 78′), 14 Demetri Patterson, 15 Takoda McMullin
| MATCH INFO |
Date: Saturday, November 14
Venue: Savoie Stadium, Chambéry
Kickoff: 15:00 local
Weather: partly cloudy, 55°F (13°C), wind NW 6-8 mph (9-13 km/h)
| OFFICIALS |
Referee: Jérémy Rozier (France)
Assistants: Kevin Bralley (France) & Benoît Rousselet (France)
TMO: Julien Castaignede (France)
