THE CANADIAN PRESS
MARKHAM, Ont. — Dressed impeccably in pressed shirt, slacks and tie in the stands at Fletcher’s Field, Kieran Crowley looked icy calm while others around him sweated in the heat.
If only his rugby team looked as good.
The newly appointed national team coach watched impassively from the stands Saturday afternoon as Canada lost 17-16 to Argentina ‘A’ in a Churchill Cup game Canada led 6-3 at the half and could have won. But in a contest rife with errors, the Canadians made more than Argentina and paid for it.
"Very disappointing, really," Crowley said later. "We had opportunities. We never took them. Mistakes let us down."
Crowley, now 0-2 at Canada’s helm after losses to Scotland ‘A’ and Argentina ‘A,’ is still learning about his team. The research is all the more difficult because he’s missing a slew of top players, either injured or unavailable after a long club season.
But the coach says the task facing him doesn’t seem any bigger now that when he took the job.
"Oh no, I don’t think so. I always knew it was going to be a challenge," he said. "Today we played the B team of the country that’s third in the world in the rankings. It was a performance that some really good parts in it. … It’s just a matter of taking those opportunities and, I suppose, players being able to play at this level consistently.
"Whereas last week we had three or four patches, today we possibly had two that counted against us."
Crowley is all business watching a game. Unlike former coach Ric Suggitt, there are no fiery outbursts in the stands. The New Zealander watches in near silence, glued to the pitch or the TV monitor in front of him.
After the game, he leaves the players be, preferring to dissect the contest with them after viewing the tape
And he is discreet, a trait players respect. After a game where he could have chosen to berate any number of players, he opted instead to look for the positives in talking to a reporter.
The lineout worked. The Canadians managed to spin the ball out wide. The back row of Adam Kleeberger, Aaron Carpenter (despite a trip to the sin bin at the end of the first half) and Andrew Wilson performed well.
"The pleasing thing for me was our defence certainly stepped up a notch from where it was last week," said Crowley. "On occasion we got split a couple of times, but it was a huge improvement from last week."
Argentina outscored Canada 14-3 in the second half before a converted try moved the Canadians within one with some 10 minutes remaining. But the visitors used their big forwards to kill off the clock and secure the win.
Argentina brought a largely unknown squad to the tournament. The Pumas’ starting 15 Saturday featured seven capped players, who had just 13 appearances for the country’s elite side among them.
Earlier, the England Saxons defeated Ireland ‘A’ 34-12 to advance to the final, with England running in three unanswered tries in the second half to put the game away.
.The second-string English squad, whose starting 15 included just six capped players, will meet Scotland ‘A’ next Saturday in Chicago in a battle of unbeaten teams. Ireland ‘A’ dropped to 1-1 and will play Argentina (1-1) for third place.
Canada will meet the U.S. in a matchup of winless sides to decide fifth place.
For Crowley, the evaluation continues. He hints that is something that will be ongoing.
"You’ve got to reward performance. And there’s got to be consequences if the performance is not up to standard. But you’ve got to have that depth to be able to do that as well."
There is plenty of passion. The Canadian flag taped to the dressing room wall attested to that. But depth, with some players scattered around the globe and others playing at a lower level, domestically, remains a problem.