Article content

Saturday’s loss tothe USA in San Diego was ugly.

After a ferocious fightback late in the first half and into the second half, one which had the Americans totally back-pedalling in every respect, Canada somehow lost the thread.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or Canada lose to US in Rugby World Cup qualifying; what's next? Back to video

The Americans scored, twice, off lineouts, essentially killing Canada’s hopes with 20 minutes still to play. To see the Canadians deflate so quickly and so terribly will give every rugby fan in the Great White North pause.

And so, some thoughts on where to go from here.

There’s still Uruguay

Here’s the clear next task: playing Uruguay for the Americas 2 spot. That two match series will go next January and February.

Canada lost in spectacular fashion to Uruguay in Montevideo during this spring’s Americas Rugby Championship. It was a game with a familiar theme: tons of possession for Canada but too much wasted ball, mostly on the back of too many unforced errors.

How likely is a repeat of that next year? It’s low, but it’s possible. One should keep in mind is how underpowered that Canadian team was. It used to be that Canada’s second string was still good enough to push past Uruguay’s best, but that wasn’t the case this last time out. You assume Canada will have most of their stars available next year, and one thing Canada did remind us during the two-match series with the US: they can still score some quite impressive tries.