In front of a crowd of 11,587 at McMahon Stadium, Team Canada decisively beat out the United States in the first round of the Pacific Nations Cup.

Scoring 34–20 in Men’s 15s Rugby over the Americans, Team Canada stuck to the plan they unveiled earlier in the week involving strong defence and picking up on the mistakes of their opponents.

It helped them go from even at the half at 20–20 into the much needed win on Team Canada’s mission to reach the Rugby World Cup in Australia.

Team Canada’s Tyler Sardon, who scored four of the night’s tries, said that the Americans were a tough opponent who had Team Canada on the backfoot at times.

“We punched and they punched back. So it was a tough game, and it wasn’t really till the last 15 minutes that I felt we really had a foothold and we were able to start controlling it to get the win. But man, credit to them, credit to our boys. They’ve been working so hard,” he said.

“I always say you only get what you deserve, but I really think we deserve that.”

Sardon was one of the last minute additions to the Calgary match after returning to Canada after playing professionally in France. He said the opportunity to return to Canada was a big one after being asked by Head Coach Steve Meehan to join the squad.

Friday night’s victory was a satisfying return to form for Team Canada, which missed out on the Rugby World Cup after their performance in Chile in 2021.

“We felt some emotions I never want to feel again. So we knew we had to give everything tonight to right the wrong,” said Sardon.

Returning home for victory in front of the ‘best crowd in Canada’

Former Calgarian Ben LeSage was ecstatic with the victory in front of a home crowd at McMahon Stadium.

“Hopefully this is a good proof that we should come back to Calgary often,” he said.

“I was sort of gasping for air a few times, and so sort of that 16th man giving us energy, especially that last 20 there where we felt to start get a bit of momentum and stuck with the confidence, was amazing. The best crowd in Canada.”

He said the victory put the team into a much better position for their match in Japan next week.

“Confidence, it’s a big thing, right? Sports has so such a fine margin for error sometimes, and I think we’ve been on the wrong side of a couple close games the past couple years, so to finally come out on the right side of one and and see what happens when we all work really hard towards a common goal,” said LeSage.

Fellow former Calgarian Matt Oworu was also thrilled to be back in front of a home crowd, saying that it had been everything he wanted from Calgarians.

“It was everything I expected and more. I knew the crowd was gonna be loud. I knew we were gonna get the win. I knew that a lot of the guys that are on this team that won today, we’ve been talking to each other. We’ve been putting the work in since day one,” he said.

“I’ve been saying my prayers to God, family’s been by my side every day since I decided to take this dream, and it couldn’t have happened any better.”

Oworu praised Team USA for their efforts, saying that they expected them to come out strong in the first half of the match.

“I think they gave us everything in that first half. Our coaches told us that they were going to come out firing and we just had to weather the storm,” he said.

“There was no drop off. USA gave us a couple opportunities. I mean, Tyler scoring four tries helps also. We just stayed in the game for 80 minutes.”

As for whether the victory would put extra pressure on Team Japan, Oworu said that he expected them to be watching Team Canada diligently regardless.

“It’s international rugby. I don’t think they’re going to be watching it more than they would have if we had lost the game. But we’re hopefully going to be ready for what’s what comes,” he said.

The Pacific Nations Cup match also saw Fred Kazakoff, who helped built high school rugby programs in Calgary and was instrumental in helping to build Calgary Rugby Park, receive a lifetime achievement award from Rugby Canada.

Canada Takes on Japan next on Aug. 30. For more details, see www.world.rugby/pacific-nations-cup/en/matches/2025.

Photos from the Pacific Nations Cup round one in Calgary