OTTAWA — Chalk one up for the home team and a hometown kid.
Conner Keys of nearby Stittsville, Ont., fell for rugby back in 2006 when he watched Canada play Scotland in an A match at Twin Elm Rugby Park back in 2006. Now he plays for Canada and was home to play for his country for the first time.
Canada had an impressive response Friday night at Ottawa's TD Place as they downed Romania 35-22 but that wasn’t the case a week ago.
Last Saturday, Canada fell to Scotland 73-12 as the Scots retained claim of the Douglas JL Horn Cup in the decisive romp.
“I don’t know if there’s any words to describe it really. A test match is a test match for a reason. You go out and do your best, but to get a win like that feels awesome. I can’t put it into words really,” Keys said.
“This whole two weeks has just been awesome. I played for a couple of clubs here in Ottawa, so I’m pretty fortunate to have such a good community here in Ottawa getting behind it. I love it and I couldn’t be a happier guy right now.”
It was the first of two test matches in Ottawa for the Canadian side who will next face Japan in Vancouver on Aug. 25 and then the United States in Los Angeles on Aug. 31 in the Pacific Nations Cup.
The two Ottawa summer fixtures will give Canada’s roster a sense of where they stand as they begin their path to qualification for the 2027 Rugby World Cup in Australia.
Canada failed to qualify for the 2023 World Cup in France.
It was the only time Canada failed to qualify for the World Cup since the inaugural event in 1987.
Canada started strong Friday, scoring a try and adding a couple of penalty kicks to take a 13-10 lead into the half.
Peter Nelson hit back-to-back penalty kicks to give Canada a 6-0 less than 10 minutes into the match. After Alin Conache converted a penalty to get Romania on the board, Nic Benn scored his first try for Canada. After the Nelson conversion Canada led 13-3 in the 24th minute.
Romania scored their first try of the game 30 minutes into the game when Vlad Neculau scored off a maul and Conache cut the Canadian lead to 13-10.
Canada appeared to score a try in the dying minutes of the first half, but after a referee’s review cited an obstruction penalty, the try was negated. Minutes later Nelson missed a penalty attempt.
Canada opened the second half strong as well as Ethan Fryer scored his first try in his first cap for Canadian the 45th minute that was converted by Nelson and Canada led 20-10.
That lead was short lived though, as just three minutes later Conache scored on a long run and then converted his try and Romania trailed 20-17.
“To get a win like that was a long time coming and on home soil with all those fans out there, it feels incredible” Nelson said.
There was a lot of good in our game last week and we brought it through today and we did enough to bring it over the line, so it feels incredible.”
In the 61st minute Romania took their first lead of the game on a try by Tevita Manumua and although the conversion was unsuccessful Canada Trailed 22-20.
Canada retook the lead in the 66th minute on an Andrew Quattrin try and the Nelson conversion put Canada ahead 27-22. In the 69th minute Quattrin scored his second consecutive try to give Canada a 32-22 lead they never looked back from.
“We played well today. That’s a tough side. They’re strong boys, they’re physical guys. It’s a good team effort and if we clean stuff up we can be a lot better,” Quattrin said.
“It’s just playing a full 80. We had some good moments in the Scotland game and today we had more great moments. We won, I’m happy.”
Nelson closed out the scoring with a penalty kick in the 79th minute.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 12, 2024.
Darren Desaulniers, The Canadian Press
