It was the performance of Wales’s wealth of newcomers that would have left coach Ruddock smiling, with debutant teenage winger Chris Czekaj and rookie prop Ben Broster both grabbing tries in the near 100 degree heat. Captain Mark Taylor got the ball rolling as he finished off a well worked Welsh move on fourteen minutes to add to Ceri Sweeney’s earlier penalty.
Although Canada full-back Derek Daypuck managed to open the hosts’ scoring with a seventeenth minute penalty, Wales reasserted their authority when Colin Charvis was driven over from a line-out to grab his twentieth try for his country and leave him joint with the legendary Gareth Edwards and Gerald Davies in Wales’s record try scorers list. Tempers boiled over just before the break as rival locks Robert Sidoli and Luke Tait were sent to the sin bin for exchanging blows but Wales kept cool heads after the interval as Broster barged his way over within five minutes on his first start having made his debut the week before.
Ospreys flanker Jon Thomas followed that up with a try of his own ten minutes later as Canada began to wilt in the heat with Wales stretching the defence to its limits. Czekaj danced over three minutes later to complete a remarkable debut for the 19-year-old before full-back Kevin Morgan got in on the act when he raced clear on 66 minutes. Thomas completed his brace as he dived over from close range on 70 minutes before Alix Popham completed the rout in similar style three minutes from time. Ruddock was left beaming by the nine-try display and was quick to praise the young guns who have come through on the summer excursion.
Ruddock hailed the six debutants who have fitted right into the Grand Slam Champions’ style over the two record-breaking wins, but he did admit Wales found it tougher in Toronto than last week’s 11-try stroll in Hartford. Try-scoring skipper Mark Taylor was just as happy after the record score against the Canucks and hailed the strength in depth that the two Test tour had unearthed.
