An impressive five-try effort by the Canadian Men’s U20 Team held off a second half Uruguayan comeback to take their first victory of the 2009 Toshiba Junior World Championship by a score of 29-11.

The squad set the tempo early powering through Uruguay’s scrums and lineouts forcing their shaky opponents to turn the ball over.

Canada got themselves on the board through flanker Jesse Kliman as he capped off several phases of powerful rucking to go up 5-0. After several linebreaks forcing Uruguay back towards their own try line Chris Barrett would run onto his own grubber kick at the 39 minute mark to put his side up 10-0.

The tenacious Canadian pack was at times too quick to make their tackles and was eventually penalized at the breakdown resulting in Uruguayan fly half German Albanell converting a penalty three minutes later to narrow the gap 10-3. Uruguay failed to gain their momentum as they conceded three penalties in the minutes to follow.

Aaron Johnstone would eventually capitalize on the lack of Uruguayan discipline and with a conversion by Harry Jones his side was leading 17-3 at the half.

A spirited Uruguay would emerge from the dressing room as they chipped away at Canada’s lead with a penalty after 52 minutes. Martin Etcheverry would go over after 64 minutes to narrow the gap 17-11.

To further kill any momentum the Canadian side had, flanker Jesse Kliman was sent packing to the bin after an offside tackle to have Uruguaya scrummaging on the Canadian five metre line.

But just as it looked as though things couldn’t get any worse for the young Canucks, Jordan Wilson-Ross intercepted from outside Uruguay’s twenty-two to touch down in the far corner.

His try had Canada leading 22-11 before substitute Grant Schneider would repeat a similar interception in the 80^th minute to put his side up 27-11.

Captain Harry Jones kicked the conversion capping off an impressive display of rugby for the 29-11 win.

“Obviously we’re very happy with the result as it’s been a very difficult past few days,” Canadian U20 Coach Tim Murdy said after the match. “We’re very proud of the boys the way they responded and bounced back. Although we made a bit of hard work of it in the end, they played some good rugby.”

After falling to Tonga on Saturday, a side that beat Argentina tonight 26-17, Captain Harry Jones commended his side on rebounding with a strong showing over Uruguay.

“The boys are happy with the win as it’s the first of the tournament,” Jones said during the press conference. “It’s tough coming off a game against Tonga and not qualifying for next year’s tournament. But it’s in the past now and we’ve won this game and look forward to taking on either Italy or Japan in our next match.”

Scoring:

Canada
Tries: Jesse Kliman, Chris Barrett, Aaron Johnstone, Jordan Wilson-Ross, Grant Schneider
Conversion: Harry Jones (2)

Uruguay
Try:German Albanell
Penalties: German Albanell, Federico Brancato

Canada:

1. Nick Wallace (St. Mary’s College/Bellingham, WA)
2. Richard Townsend (Hartpury College, Glouster Academy/ Herefordshire, ENG)
3. Justin Chelak (University of Victoria/Vancouver, BC)
4. Brett Beukeboom (University of Victoria, Lindsay Gryphons/Lindsay, ON)
5. Josh Schlebach (University of Calgary, Calgary Irish/Calgary, AB)
6. Jeff McKinnon (Capilano/North Vancouver, BC)
7. Jesse Kliman  (University of Western Ontario/Victoria, BC)
8. Andrew Crow (University of Western Ontario/Victoria, BC)
9. Kyle Armstrong (Truro College, Ajax Wanderers/Whitby,ON)
10. Harry Jones (University of British Columbia, Capilano/West Vancouver, BC)
11. Christ Barrett (Queens University/Vancouver, BC)
12. Conor Trainor (Western, UBCOB Ravens/Vancouver, BC)
13. Aaron Johnstone (Capilano/Bowen Island, BC)
14. Will Philippson (University of British Columbia/Duncan, BC)
15. Jordan Wilson-Ross (Alliston Timberwolves/Alliston, ON)

Reserves:

16. Evan Mallory (University of Victoria/North Vancouver, BC) for Nick Wallace at 72 mins
17. Ryan Fried (Waterloo Oxford DSS/New Hamburg, ON) for Richard Townsend at 82 mins
18. Toni Wodzicki (University of Victora, Mtl Wanderers/Montreal, QC) for Jeff McKinnon at 72 mins
19. Sebastian Pearson (Lindsay Gryphons, Leicester Tigers/Lindsay, ON) for Josh Schlebach at 56 mins
20. Pat Fraser (University of Victoria/Cobble Hill, BC) not used
21. Chris Dickenson (McMaster University, Oakville Crusaders/Oakville, ON) for Aaron Johnstone at 74 mins
22. Grant Schneider (McMaster University, Oakville Crusaders/Oakville, ON) for Will Philippson at 77 mins

Staff:

Head Coach: Tim Murdy
Assistant Coach: Ian Hyde-Lay
Strength and Conditioning Coach: Joe McCullum
Manager: Brian Hunter
Medical: Ben Suen, Dr. Andre du Toit
Video Analyst/Media Manager: Andrew Smith