Canada loses to Samoa on final play at Pacific Nations Cup

The Samoans needed a try on the stroke of full-time by Sakaria Taulafo to snatch a 21-20 victory over Canada, the replacement prop catching a loose ball off a ricochet from a lineout to dive over and secure the final place.

Earlier, Tonga completed their group stage campaign with a 33-19 victory over the United States.

The North American sides will play off for fifth and sixth.

The game finished with Japan showing the benefits of all the hard work they have done in the gym as they kept the Fijians on the backfoot. We have to start taking these. “In the final, we can’t afford to do that”. With a win and a loss each, the USA and Tonga have equal records through the first two rounds of the Pacific Nations Cup – the last major warm-up before the Rugby World Cup in England this September.

Until then, it had looked like Michael Stanley’s long-range kicking would lift Samoa to a comeback win.

Fumiaki Tanaka of Japan, (L), tackles Malakai Ravulo of Fiji on during their World Rugby Pacific Nat … Kicking from midfield or just inside it, his kicks cleared the crossbar by about a foot.

But some awful defense saw the game suddenly shift in Fiji’s favor as the Pacific islanders followed up on a Josh Matavesi penalty with three converted tries in the space of eight minutes.

The second half started with Manasa Saulo sent to the sin bin in the 44th minute and Japan made the most of their numerical advantage with Akihito Yamada going over from a scrum five meters out and Goromaru adding a fourth penalty as Japan closed the gap to seven points.

“You can’t afford to have those things and Tonga made us pay for it”, Crowley said.

“It’s a game we should have won easily”.

The game was played in 30-degree conditions, with the referee allowing time for water breaks. “The boys, they dug deep. Now we will have to go back and look at some of our mistakes and work towards next week”.

The USA, who lost to ninth-raked Samoa in the Pacific Nations opening match, scored the victory over Japan despite dropping their best-known player, veteran Todd Clever, due to what the team called “multiple conduct violations”.

Pritchard missed a long-range penalty in the 54th minute. Gordon McRorie kicked the conversion and Canada, who had beaten Tonga four straight times heading into the game, were up 7-0.

Japan took the lead on three penalty goals from Ayumu Goromaru in the first 16 minutes. The danger seemed averted when Canada stole the lineout, only to have the ball pop loose when two Canadians collided. They will play a placement match.

“There were too many turnovers in the first half”, Tolkin said.

Mackenzie, with an assist from teammate Connor Trainor, put Canada ahead after he got to a long cross-field kick from Nathan Hirayama that landed just outside Samoa’s 22-metre line and beat a string of defenders to the goalline. “Today we tried out some new players, they put their hand up putting more pressure on the coaches to pick them for the World Cup”.