Canada effectively dumped Tonga out of the World Cup yesterday with a breathtaking, come-from-behind 25-20 victory thanks to two late tries.
Canada trailed 13-20 with 13 minutes to go, but scores from Aaron Carpenter and Phil MacKenzie broke Tongan hearts at Whangarei, handing Tonga their second defeat with games to come against Japan and France.
“That was awesome, I’m so proud of the boys,” Canada captain Pat Riordan said. “We just said everything we achieve is in our hands so it’s up to us to change it [the score] — and we did.”
Photo: REUTERS
The result extended Tonga’s winless World Cup record against Canada and disappointed a legion of fans who had harbored hopes of a first World Cup quarter-final after the Sea Eagles’ battling opening defeat to New Zealand.
Canada edged a scrappy opening half thanks to the positional kicking of fly-half Ander Monro and a rampaging run from DTH Van Der Merwe, who burst through two tacklers to set up the opening score for Jebb Sinclair.
Tonga, plagued by handling errors, passed up six points when fullback Kurt Morath miscued two penalties from central positions, and were made to pay when Canada’s James Pritchard knocked one over at the other end on 26 minutes.
Tonga fielded 11 different players from the side, which frustrated the All Blacks, and they looked disjointed as their repeated attempts to run the ball broke down in a series of handling errors.
However, they were rewarded on the stroke of half-time as center Siale Piutau was released in space on the right and scythed through two defenders to score. Morath added the conversion to cut Canada’s lead to 10-7 at the break.
The game burst into life in the second half as the teams swapped penalties and then Piutau ran onto a short pass and accelerated through Canada’s defense on 53 minutes.
Canada were on the ropes, but they hit back when substitute center Conor Trainor muscled forward and No. 8 Carpenter capitalized by barreling through a sea of bodies for a try on 67 minutes.
Canada kicker Pritchard missed the conversion, leaving them two points short, but left wing Phil MacKenzie crossed again as the Maple Leafs regained the decisive lead 25-20 with just six minutes to go.
Hundreds of Tonga supporters gathered outside Whangarei’s Northland Events Centre more than two hours before kick-off, extending the ecstatic World Cup welcome New Zealand’s Tongan community has given its team.
Tonga and Canada, ranked at 12 and 14 respectively, have a long World Cup rivalry dating back to their first match in 1987, which the Maple Leafs won 37-4. Canada won their last World Cup match in 2003.
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