A year of sacrifice and commitment comes to a head tonight at Westhills Stadium in Langford.

It’s all on the line at 7 p.m. as the Canadian and American Under-20 national rugby sides meet to decide the North American qualifier for the 2015 Junior World Cup in May at Portugal.

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“Many of these players have taken a year out of their lives, not going to university and putting family second, to achieve a dream,” said Canadian head coach Jeff Williams.

“There is a lot of pressure, so the mental side of things is as big as the physcial in a game such as this.”

Tonight is the back end of the two-game, total-point qualifier. Canada won the opening game 24-23 Monday at Shawnigan Lake School on a penalty goal on the last play of the game by Guiseppe du Toit from the University of Victoria Vikes.

“There was a lot of nervous energy in the first game and we got through that,” said Williams.

“We had a slow start [Canada rallied from a 23-11 deficit in the last 20 minutes] but then did a lot of good things at the end.”

The short, three-day rest period between games is the reason Williams kept 30 players on his selection list for the qualifiers.

“There will be a few [roster] changes,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Canada-U.S. rugby rivalry will be on display at the Premiership men’s club level Saturday when James Bay meets Seattle RFC at Macdonald Park at 2:45 p.m. in the newly inaugurated National Rugby News Challenge Cup. The James Bay and Seattle rugby clubs have been among the most successful, if not the most successful, of their respective countries.

cdheensaw@timescolonist.com