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Ben LeSage left for 2019 Rugby World Cup and has played more than 70 Tests in Canada red, but last weekend’s 19-16 win USA Eagles in exciting Asahi Super Dry Pacific Nations Cup showdown is up there.
LeSage, who was the most experienced of Canada’s Pacific Nations Cup team, set the tone early with a moment of individual brilliance. Front rower Foster Dewitt connected with the Red Caps center, who scampered in for the first try of the third-place playoff.
Mason Flesch converted for the team’s second try soon after, as the Canadians built a strong lead during the first quarter in Tokyo. Luke Carty’s accurate boot to shoot saw the USA fight back, but the Test ultimately came down to the final game.
It was a three-point game with time running out, but the USA launched a last-ditch drive for points inside the Canadian 22. But the Canadians held on, with a full-time whistle followed by a moment of pure jubilation for the winners.
Canada they hadn’t achieved back-to-back wins over their North American rivals in 13 years, but that streak ended triumphantly. They beat the Eagles by 14 points in Calgary 13 months ago and are celebrating again – an important moment for them ahead of the 2027 Men’s Rugby World Cup.
“Relief was the first thing. We’re on the back foot there for the last 10 minutes just hanging on for dear life,” LeSage said. RugbyPass at Prince Chichibu Memorial Stadium.
“Just to see the ball come out and the deep breath at the final whistle was pretty amazing.
“But so much emotion. So proud of the lads, we’ve come here and had a tough three and a half weeks, we’re picking ourselves up. We didn’t get the result we wanted in the first two weeks but we’re getting better every week.”
“I think last year a lot of people looked at (the win over the Eagles) as a one-off. It was on home soil … so to do it away from home, neutral … it was pretty awesome to do it two years in a row.”
Canada was 24 years oldth in the world rugby rankings heading into the North American derby, but they have moved ahead Belgium and Hong Kong China on the graphs. As for the US, they fell one place to 15thth.
Both Canada and the USA have already secured their spots at next year’s Rugby World Cup in Australia, and remain focused on their continued progress ahead of the event. Both will be able to test themselves in multiple high-level hits during the match Nations Rugby World Cup in November.
“To the credit of the USA, they won all three games in the summer, they had a lot of good results on the trot,” LeSage said.
“We probably feel like we might be better than 24th in the world and we had no results to prove it. Instead of reminiscing about what could have been in the past, this was a game we could have won and in the fall we have Romania and Georgia, two teams ahead of us.
“If we can just continue to string wins against teams above us rather than below … it’s just about getting wins at the end of the day.”
