THE CANADIAN PRESS
BORDEAUX, France — Canada wraps up a disappointing Rugby World Cup campaign against Australia on Saturday, with players and coach Ric Suggitt wondering what might have been.
Canada could have been headed into its first-round finale with a pair of wins and a shot at the quarter-finals. Instead the 14th-ranked Canadians are 0-2-1 in Pool B with just two points. Only Namibia, Portugal and the U.S. have fewer points at the 20-team tournament.
"We came over with all the best intentions of trying to win three games and for the most part we were competitive," Suggitt said Thursday. "But we just didn’t do enough to show a victory in any of them and it’ll come back to haunt us."
In Friday’s lone game, England plays Tonga in a match to see who accompanies South Africa out of Pool A into the quarter-finals.
Suggitt said his players have the motivation and will to finish off on a good note, but acknowledges the unbeaten Australians — ranked second in the world — will be tough even if they rest many of their starters as planned.
The Canadian campaign has been a roller-coaster ride.
In its tournament opener, Canada led 17-9 after 45 minutes against Wales but let the Welsh back into the game and lost 42-17.
Down 22-16 in the final minute against Fiji, the Canadians were one metre away from a try and possible conversion that could have given them the victory — only to see the ball squirt loose and a Fijian race the length of the field for a try and a 29-16 win. A disallowed try by Mike Pyke in the 72nd minute rubbed salt into the wound.
And against Japan, the Canadians led 12-5 in the dying seconds only to see their rivals score a late try and then make a long conversion with the final kick of the game for a 12-12 tie.
Captain Morgan Williams believes his first-half try was wrongly disallowed. And the entire Canadian team thought the game should have been blown dead before the final Japanese attack well into injury time.
"If we’d had the Argo Bounce go our way, we’d be 2-1 and looking at this game for our third victory and trying to get into the quarter-finals," said Suggitt.
"It’s just a gamut of emotions. Not just for the coaching staff but the players. Because they know that they’ve been a heartbeat away from being in the position that they wanted to be in."
Australia (3-0) plans to rest many of its front-line players Saturday on Rogers Sportsnet.
Coach John Connolly originally proposed 11 changes to the squad that beat Fiji 55-12.
"Those guys will be out to prove a point themselves," Suggitt said of the Wallaby replacements. "They’ll be coming out guns blazing and we’re going to have to play with a bit of pride and try to right some of the wrongs we’ve done in the last three games."
Said Aussie hooker Adam Freier: "It’s a great opportunity for all players who haven’t been starting just to push claims (to play). Our mindset this week is that we’re competing against ourselves," he said. "Although we’ll be competing against a ferocious Canadian outfit desperate for a win after the draw with Japan, we’ll also be competing against ourselves and looking to achieve the standards we set."