BUCHAREST, Romania — Canada’s men’s rugby team ended its November tour of Europe on a disappointing note, losing 18-9 to Romania on Saturday.
Florin Vlaicu booted six penalties to account for all of Romania’s scoring.
James Pritchard kicked two penalties, and Gordon McRorie added one for the 17th-ranked Canadians, whose record on its tour dropped to 1-3-0.
The Canadians went into Saturday’s test against Rugby World Cup Pool D rival Romania hoping to bounce back from a disappointing loss to Samoa.
They got off to a decent start when dynamic runs by Jeff Hassler and DTH Van der Merwe gave Canada great field position early on. That led to Pritchard’s first three points of the match.
The tempo changed in favour of the No. 18 Romanians, however, and the hosts led 6-3 at half-time.
Romanian penalties gradually saw them build a 15–9 lead. And despite a late Canadian fight-back attempt, Vlaicu connected on one more penalty in the dying moments.