Wales U19 v Canada U19
It was a beautiful day for rugby at Shawnigan Lake although the white carpet of snow behind the goal posts reminded us that on this side of the Malahat, winter lingers a little longer.
Canada charged into a 10-0 lead before the strains of O Canada were barely completed. It looked as if Canada would just pile up the points on the Welsh, then something happened, the Welsh took charge of the game and started playing rugby and the Canadian team started to panic. The half ended 12-10 for the visitors following tries from Wing Hannah Szigetvari and Hooker Rhian Bowden.
It became apparent that comparing the first half teams, the Welsh played better rugby and the Canadians relied on pure athleticism. The field was constantly littered with bodies after crunching tackles from both sets of players. An example of where strength doesn’t always overcome skill was in the scrum, where the smaller Welsh pack owned their Canadian counterparts, at least for the first half.
Both sides made several sunstitutions in the second half and the Canadians got 3 quick tries and one conversion with 15 minutes to go, snatching the win from the visitors.
Final Score: Canada 27 – Wales 12
(Extracts taken from www.bcrugbynews.com)
