Skeleton Crew Continue to Amaze

How prophetic was yesterday’s comment regarding “never ceasing to amaze”, as Canada proved on day #2 to be no chopped liver in Cup action after “squeaking in”. Their historic win over N.Z., 19 – 15 was every bit deserving, particularly after N.Z. opened with a try within a record 18 seconds! The remainder of the contest belonged to the Maple Leafs. Moonlight, Trainor and Fuli scored. Game highlight was yet another Moonlight break and tough pass to support, Jones just couldn’t quite make it but had the amazing presence of reaction to tap grubber it on the fly, to a space for Trainor to scoop and tally! WOW!

Next up was England (who went on to defeat RSA by a slender two points and jump into fourth place overall). It was a very hard fought semi and great value from Canada, being edged, 5 – 14. Close but perhaps a fair outcome. Finally, it was Fiji and Canada was very hard done by in not taking a second major scalp for the day and end in third place for the tourney. The boys hammered the line early and it was eventually Hearn who crossed to tie the score at 7 – 7 at the interval. The second spell saw Moonlight score an “unhuman tally” after a great Fuli “how do you do” on a reliable Fijian defender. The Captain’s strength and desire must rank him amongst the very top echelon of players currently on the circuit. Canada was then to go further ahead when Moonlight crossed for his brace after a clever dummy and backing himself for the last thirty meters, 19 – 7 Canada. The announcer saw it as; “The John Moonlight Show”! With a mere 1m 20s left on the clock, Canada gave up a penalty and the score read 19 – 14, Canada. With mere “ticks” remaining, Canada’s ball and attacking, a player was put to ground and deemed to have “hung on too long” and that was the end of it as a quick tap saw an overlap and it was game over, Fiji crossing as the hooter blew, 19 – 21.

Again, another day of weird things happening……U.S. defeated Australia for the Bowl Final, the Aussies dropping to fifth place and the U.S. hurdling Scotland to sixth. Canada’s result over Fiji was ever so close and unlucky, consider Fiji losing 5 – 7 to South Africa. Canada’s fifteen points was a season best and enabled them to leapfrog Kenya and Wales, making a top ten finish a definite possibility as both France and Samoa are now within fingertips.

This tournament–tested band of Canadian Brothers gave some memorable performances. Innuendo on this site after Hong Kong about some guys not showing up, made this fan eat crow as every player played their guts out. Obviously, Hearn was healthy and a healthy Hearn in this game is a difference maker and he did just that, both ways. Trainor gave a memorable tournament and Jones continues to be pure money. I loved the performances from Whiteslither, Zaruba and Fuli has now arrived at that “next level” taking great delight in taking it to his Fijian brothers – ‘onya, Mikey! One cannot offer enough superlatives for Moonlight but we know his humility would just reflect such plaudits to his team. John, you are a rock around which everyone just seems to get better. These three days saw some excellent results in the face of adversity – coming from behind, serious personnel loses and finally, really stepping up against the big boys. The players now get some rest as they don’t play in Glasgow until 9/10^th May, allowing for some injuries to heal and necessary rest. Canada has drawn a pool of Argentina, Japan and U.S. No doubt, the boys will be keen to get another crack at Isles, Test et al and Argentina who sit above them in the table, also Japan made final eight at their home show, so no “gimmies” here. Well done, the whole group. Good show, Coach Middleton, somehow cobbling these guys into a highly competitive unit after their mind set of XV’s and four games in 13 days.