Canada hosted the New Zealand Maori All Blacks on Sunday as part of the latter’s tour of North America. Despite Canada scoring first, the visitors scored six tries to win 40-15 in front of over 20 000 fans in Toronto.
Halfback Jamison Gibson-Park scored twice after a late switch to the starting lineup after Piri Weepu was ruled out with a knee injury shortly before kickoff (but still led the Haka).
Weepu has since returned home, as has hooker Hika Elliot, who picked up a neck injury midway through the first half. Tasman hooker Quentin MacDonald will replace Elliot, while Wellington halfback Chris Smylie will come in for Weepu.
Canada were expected to play a tighter game but surprised the Maori side by spreading the ball at every opportunity, and managed to score early on. They couldn’t maintain it though.
“When they got an opportunity, they converted it. When we got an opportunity, we didn’t quite nail it,” said Canada coach Kieran Crowley, whose team now heads to Europe to meet Georgia, Romania and Portugal. The Maori team will play the United States in Philadelphia next weekend.
The official highlights below cover the Haka, some of the chances and all the tries
Credit: rugbycanadacomm
Time: 7:58
Sign In