Canada upset a strong France A side on the weekend as they progressed to the final of the Churchill Cup, where they will take on the England Saxons. The 33-27 victory, at Infinity Park in Glendale, means they will be in their first ever final.
The French side, while a second team, contained the likes of Maxime Medard, Lionel Beauxis, and a returning Julien Dupuy, who has now served out his six month suspension for eye gouging.
The lead in the match changed hands numerous times, but it was Brian Erichsens try that took the Canadians into the lead in the 70th minute, which they then held onto despite late French pressure.
Aaron Carpenter and Matt Evans also scored for Canada, while Ander Monro kicked 12 of their points. Thibault Lacroix and Yohan Audrin scored for the French, with Beauxis kicking 17 points.
The Canadians will face the England Saxons in the final after they qualified by beating the USA in Pool A. The USA and France A will meet in the Plate Final.
It was a poor weekend for French rugby overall, and despite this being a second team on show, was a superb win for Canada, who are clearly making great progress.
“I’m really happy for our guys, they put in a solid 80 minutes,” said coach Kieran Crowley, a former All Black fullback. “We put ourselves under the pump a little bit but they showed great character and resilience and came through in the end.”
This highlights summary is the best available right now, but will be replaced with a better quality and longer video as soon as possible.
Time:
03:57
Note:
Thanks to RugbyCanada for the clip
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