North American 4 Rugby - July 22-29

[wadc45]

The website for the Columbus leg of the NA4 is up:

http://www.narugby.com/

For those that don't know, this is a week of rugby featuring two Canadian all-star teams versus two American all-star teams. This is just a step below the highest international level rugby. We are still looking for volunteers, mainly for security and ticketing. It will be a chance to see the highest level of rugby competition for free and maybe even score a few freebies. This is going to be the biggest rugby event this city has ever seen, so at the very least make sure you come and check out the competition.

[barlow1802]

sounds awesome.. we'll all (my friends and myself) be there pulling for the states and throwing a few back

[wadc45]

Here is an update of last weekend's games:

Canada West dominates Hawks


Canada West's Ed Fairhurst gets a kick away against the Hawks. (Bissonnette Photo)

Columbus, OH – Canada West scored a comprehensive 46-7 victory over the US Hawks to cement first place and a spot in the championship final of the North America Four tournament in Columbus, Ohio.

Akio Tyler and Tony La Carte scored a pair of tries each, as Canada West scored an eight try victory, which saw them get a bonus point with their fourth try after just fifteen minutes. Canada West plays Canada East on Wednesday night, while the Falcons will play the Hawks in the second match of the night.

Canada West:
15. DTH van der Merwe 14. Tony La Carte 13. Akio Tyler 12. Charles Baumberg 11. Brodie Henderson 10. David Spicer 9. Ed Fairhurst (Ian Smortchevsky@63) 8. Morgan Jones 7: Adam Kleeberger (McKeen 6. Neil Meechan (Scott Franklin@60) 5. Scott Hunter (Pat Kearney@53) 4. Tyler Hotson 3. Garth Cooke 2. Mark Lawson (Pat Riordan@60) 1. Pat Desssaulles (Hubert Buydens@53)

Replacements: 16. Pat Riordan 17. Hubert Buydens 18. Scott Franklin 19 Pat Kearney 20. Tom McKeen 21. Ian Smortchevsky 22. Geoff Warden

Hawks:
15. Andrew Blair 14. Jeremy Nash 13. Nathan Rogers 12. Albert Tuipoluto (Mike Graham@80) 11. Ed Stockounas 10: Damien Fantongia 9. Tyson Meek (David Williams@40) 8. Henry Bloomfield (Scott Lawrence@40) 7. Justin Stencil 6. Ben Sadgrove 5. Adam Russel 4. Luis Stanfill 3. Kurt Nienberg(Chris Moreno@80 min) 2. Matt Wyatt 1. Brian Olmes

Scoring:

Canada West:
Try: Akio Tyler (6, 46) Brodie Henderson (3 mins), Tony LaCarte (10, 41), David Spicer (14 mins) Garth Cooke (50 mins) DTH van der Merwe (54)
Con: Ed Fairhurst (10, 15, 54)

Hawks:
Try: Chris Moreno
Conversion: David Williams

Two late Falcon tries seal win


Alipate Tuilevuka is tracked down by Canada East's Aaron Carpenter (Bissonnette Photos)

Columbus, OH – Two tries deep into injury time saw the US Falcons score an improbable come from behind 25-24 victory in the opening match of the second round of the North America Four tournament Saturday night in Columbus, Ohio.

Wing Brian Barnard finished an eighty metre try that saw multiple phases spring him free as the late comeback took place with the Canadians down a man. Vaha Esikia scored in the 85th minute, and despite a missed dropped-goal attempt at a conversion, the Falcons raced back to centre needing a try for the victory.

The restart allowed the Falcons to retain possession and work the late magic, crushing the Canadian team, who held a 24-15 lead as fulltime elapsed. The Canadians built an 11-10 halftime lead as second row Stu Ault touched down on the half hour, adding to a pair of Derek Daypuck penalties. Jason Pye scored in the 14th minute to give the Falcons a 7-3 lead with Patrick Bell converting.

Jerod Selby scored a try to open the second half, and Derek Daypuck added another two penalties, putting the Canucks into a comfortable 21-10 lead. Chad Erskine then scored in the 70th minute, making the Canadians adjust their defensive stance as the Falcons showed signs of life.

Fullback replacement Carl Pocock, sent off for a team yellow card for repeated infringement in the 72rd minute saw the Canadians down to 14 men with eight minutes remaining, but the fourth official failed to allow Pocock return to the game as it crept into extra time. The heroic tries by Esikia and Barnard followed, putting the Falcons alone in second place behind Canada West, who beat the Hawks 46-7 in the second match of the night.

“I’m happy with the win,” said Falcons coach Jim Love, “but I feel sorry for the Canadians I think they deserved to win but we were lucky. I’m proud of my guys the way they stuck to the task to the end and never quit and that bodes well for the future.”

It was a different reaction in the Canada East tent afterwards with coach Simon Blanks left almost speechless. “Unbelievable!” he said. “I can hardly speak I’m so upset. I usually find positive things to say, but all I can say is full credit to the US boys for winning. They went to the end and didn’t quit in a game that lasted far too long.”

Scoring:

Canada East:
Try: Stu Ault (30), Jarod Selby (44 mins)
Con: Derek Daypuck (44 mins)
Penalty: Derek Daypuck (5, 16,49,77)

Yellow Card: Aaron Carpenter (55 mins) Carl Pocock (74 mins)

Falcons:
Try: Jason Pye: (14 mins), Chad Erskine (70 mins) Vaha Esikia (85 mins) Brian Barnard (87 mins)
Conversion: Patrick Bell (14 mins)
Penalty: Patrick Bell (23 mins)

Yellow Card: Mark Aylor 40 mins

[wadc45]

Here is the schedule for the rest of the tournament:

Wednesday July 26th:
Canada East vs Canada West 6 PM
US Hawks vs US Falcons 8 PM

Saturday July 29th
Game One - Third vs Fourth 6 PM
Game Two - First vs Second 8 PM

All games are at Beekman Park at the corner of Lane and Kenny.

[jwinslow]

Will have the gallery up tonight from this evening's games...