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The final itself was a thriller. The Americans are the best kickoff team in the world. They’re one of the best around the tackle. And they’ve got the world’s best player in Perry Baker.

To win, the Canadians needed to keep control of the ball and they needed to force the Americans into mistakes.

In the game’s first five minutes, they did just that, and grabbed a trio of tries as a result.

Matt Mullins opened the scoring for Canada in the first minute, powering through the American defence on a powerful, direct run to the goal line. Baker, a very underrated defender, tried to bring the big man down but just rand out of space.

After the Americans claimed the ensuing kickoff, the Canadian defence went to work. They kept the Americans contained and when they finally got the ball back, they again found a gap in the USA defence, this time Moonlight feeding Harry Jones on an inside run, Jones finding the goal line untouched and right under the posts. Nathan Hirayama hammered home the conversion and like that, the Canadians were up 12-0.

The Americans had yet to complete a pass.

Canada kicked off again, and this time the Americans couldn’t even collect the ball. Lucas Hammond raced on to the loose ball, kicked it forward soccer-style and big Mike Fuailefau raced on to the ball and touched it down before it rolled out of the back of the end zone.

Canada was up 19-0 and the USA was stunned.

But you knew the Americans just had too much to stay quiet forever.