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SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Pat Parfrey scored the only try of the day for Canada as the men’s national rugby squad dropped a 29-10 decision against the United States on Saturday in the Americas Rugby Championship.

Parfrey, from St. John’s N.L., went over in the lefthand corner in the 23rd minute to put Canada on the board. Brock Staller added a conversion, and a penalty early in the second half,

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The U.S. was up 14-0 only 16 minutes into the match. Parfrey and Staller cut the lead down to 14-10 before the Americans closed out the match with 15 straight points.

Canadian winger DTH van der Merwe won his 50th cap on Saturday. Van der Merwe, who made his debut against Barbados in 2006, is Canada’s all-time try-scorer with 31.

Canada was coming off a 32-31 loss to 18th-ranked Uruguay in Montevideo last weekend. That consigned the Canadian men to one final shot at qualifying for the 2019 Rugby World Cup at a repechage tournament in November.

The 17th-ranked Americans defeated No. 21 Canada last summer in its first attempt to qualify for the World Cup.

Canada hosts No. 25 Brazil at Westhills Stadium in Langford, B.C., on Feb. 17 in the third game of the ARC.