2019 Rugby World Cup: New Zealand 63-0 Canada

Canada were one of the last teams into the tournament and faced the toughest of tests in New Zealand.

2019 Rugby World Cup: New Zealand v Canada
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2019 Rugby World Cup: New Zealand v Canada

One of the last teams to qualify for the 2019 Rugby World Cup, Canada were run ragged by a rampaging New Zealand team.

Head-to-head

Played – 5

New Zealand wins – 5

Canada wins – 0

Did You Know?

  • New Zealand became the first team to score 16,000 Test points when they drew 16-16 with South Africa in July. Their try tally after that match stood at 2,091 – another record.

Related: Rugby World Cup Fixtures

In a nutshell

It was always going to be a tough task for the Canadians to hold back the All Black tide and despite the occasional moment of quality, they were heavily outmatched in just about every department.

The All Blacks started strongly playing some brilliant off-loading rugby that gave Canada no time to set their defence. They got on the scoreboard early by scoring a penalty try under the posts in the 5th minute and doubled their advantage in the 9th minute thanks to a lovely cross-field kick from Richie Mo’unga to Jordie Barrett.

The man who epitomised the free-flowing rugby the Kiwis played was Sonny Bill Williams who looked to off-load at every opportunity. Indeed in the 18th minute there was no need as he found the try line to put the Kiwis up 21-0 after a quarter of the match had gone by.

The Canadians showed some promise on occasion. After some lovely interchanges, Peter Nelson almost scored a breakaway try which would’ve raised the roof in Oita. But the All Blacks and Beauden Barrett pulled off some excellent defending to deny them, and he did so again a few minutes later. The Canadians were knocking on the door but couldn’t quite get in.

The second Barrett to score was Beauden as he collected a Sonny Bill grubber kick under the posts to ensure the bonus point just before half-time. The only Barrett who hadn’t scored up to that point was Scott who dropped a certain try as he was crossing the try-line a few minutes earlier. No doubt, the man they call ‘dog roll’ is going to receive some flak for that moment.

And yet he made up for it quickly in the second-half. The All Blacks scored immediately as Rieko Ioane dotted down and then just a couple of minutes later Barrett managed to hold onto the ball this time after receiving a pass from Kieran Read. Shannon Frizell and Brad Weber then scored rounding off an incredible 10 minutes to start the second-half for the All Blacks. It was now a question of how many…

Weber crossed again 6 minutes later for his second of the evening and that was all she wrote as the All Blacks ran out winners by 63 points to zero.

Star man

Plenty of choices to choose from. Brad Weber scored a brace and Sonny Bill Williams was excellent whilst he was on but we have gone for Richie Mo’unga. Controlled the game beautifully and didn’t miss with the boot all night. An imperious performance.

On Target: Mo’unga didn’t miss with the boot (Getty Images)

The reaction

All Blacks captain acknowleged the heat in his post-match interview; “It was bloody tough in this humidity under this roof so it was a tough game, but awesome to be a part of. You could probably tell as, basically, we were dripping wet as soon as we ran out to start the game. But something to work on in the knowledge we’ll probably get these conditions later on.”

Canada coach Kingsley Jones said; “I’m just really proud of the guys and the way they stuck in there. We had big chunks of the game where we were really in the game. Every one of them can look themselves in the mirror and be proud of their performance tonight. At other times, I’m admiring the All Blacks’ accuracy, skill, speed. The bottom line is collisions: the speed and power that the All Blacks can deliver at times, it really causes big problems. And then after that, it’s difficult to deal with, difficult to defend.”

The Teams

New Zealand Team- Beauden Barrett, Jordie Barrett, Jack Goodhue (Ryan Crotty 40), Sonny Bill Williams (Ben Smith), Rieko Ioane, Richie Mo’unga, TJ Perenara (Brad Weber 40), Atu Moli, Liam Coltman (Codie Taylor 70), Angus Ta’avao (Nepo Laulala 25, Ofa Tuungafasi 52), Scott Barrett, Patrick Tuipulotu (Samuel Whitelock 70), Shannon Frizell, Matt Todd (Ardie Savea 70), Kieran Read

Tries: Penalty 5, J Barrett 9, SB Williams 18, B Barrett 36, Ioane 41, S Barrett 45, Frizell 48, Weber 50, 56   Con: Mo’unga 8

Canada Team- Patrick Parfrey (Andrew Coe 52), Jeff Hassler, Conor Trainor, Ciaran Hearn, DTH van der Merwe (Taylor Paris 60 reversed on 72), Peter Nelson, Gordon McRorie (Phil Mack 64), Djustice Sears-Duru (Hubert Buydens 68), Eric Howard (Andrew Quattrin), Cole Keith (Jake Ilnicki 49), Evan Olmstead (Josh Larsen), Conor Keys (Mike Sheppard 60), Lucas Rumball, Matt Heaton, Tyler Ardron

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