TORONTO -- Canada may have been within a couple of points of knocking off a Tier
1 rugby team Saturday, but there was no celebrating in the Canadian locker-room
after the game.
Cheap Jerseys USA . A controversial penalty
in the dying minutes made sure of that. The Canadians dropped a 19-17 decision
to Scotland in an international Test match at BMO Field -- a country that sits a
full eight positions higher than them on the world rankings. But Canada was in
position to win with five minutes to go when the referee reversed his decision
on a call, after originally awarding Canada a penalty kick. "Im gutted actually
for the guys, they really put it all in," said Canadian coach Kieran Crowley.
"Positives are . . . we ran a Tier 1 country to two points, thats a pretty good
effort." On the controversial play in the 75th minute, Canadian flanker Jebb
Sinclair had the ball, his forearm made contact with Ruaridh Jackson, and the
Scottish player was knocked out cold. The referee initially awarded a penalty
kick to Canada, but reversed the call after reviewing video. "I dont know what
you mean to do with your elbow in that situation when a guy gets his head on the
wrong side," Crowley said "He refereed it how he saw it, and I thought it was
the wrong decision. But thats the way he sees it." Jeff Hassler scored Canadas
lone try while James Pritchard booted for 12 Canadian points. Grant Gilchrist
scored the single try for Scotland, while Greig Laidlaw kicked four penalties
and a conversion. Hassler scored in the 23rd minute, after Ciaran Hearn broke
through the Scottish midfield and sprinted 30 metres down the sideline in front
of a red-and-clad crowd of 18,788 fans -- plus the odd Scottish fan dressed in a
kilt -- at BMO Field. "Its always good to get one on the board early in front of
the home fans, it was a bit of a spark for us, just good team play and a good
finish," Hassler said. The Canadians were looking to bounce back from a 34-25
loss to Japan in a Pacific Nations Cup game a week earlier in Burnaby, B.C. --
an ugly affair that saw the Canadians give up 25 unanswered points in the second
half. While it was expected the No. 16-ranked Canadians would be in for a much
tougher afternoon against the eighth-ranked Scots, they made Scotland work for
the win -- the first Scottish victory on Canadian soil. "Its pretty gutting,"
Hassler said of the close loss. "Its not the first time weve been in that
position and its something that we as a Canadian team need to improve on and
start knocking off some of these teams in the last couple of minutes of the
game. Locker-room is pretty disappointed, but we know were right there."
Gilchrist scored in the 27th minute, muscling his way across the try line after
some strong work from the Scottish forwards. Scotland took a 13-8 lead into the
dressing room at halftime. Pritchard booted four penalty kicks, plus a
conversion. He had a chance to give Canada the lead with 15 minutes to play, but
his kick banged off the post. He made good on his next attempt to put the
Canadians up 17-16. But Laidlaw booted his fourth of the day to put the Scots
back on top with eight minutes to play. Stuart Hogg also had a penalty kick for
the Scots, who were coming off a 24-6 victory over the United States a week
earlier in Houston. "Not happy at all with the outcome," said Canadian captain
Tyler Ardron. "Im sure that call (on Sinclair) is whats going to be talked a lot
about this week, but in all honesty I dont think it should have come down to
that. I think we should have closed it out before that and its shouldnt have
made a difference." Despite the close loss, Ardron said this game didnt sit with
him any better than last weeks defeat at the hands of Japan. "Its the same
feeling, I think we should have won both those games, but its not good enough to
sit back and say we should have won those games," he said. "We have to win them.
If we want to get to where we feel we should be, thats got to be our attitude."
Scotlands coach Vern Cotter admitted the call on Sinclair that reduced Canada to
14 men "changed momentum" of the game. "(The Canadians) were attacking at that
stage," said Cotter, after his second game with Scotland. "Always in these
games, little things make the difference. A little thing turned out to be a big
thing and had a reasonably big consequence on the result." Cotter praised the
Canadian side that is "developing rapidly." He added the Canadians clearly came
out at the opening whistle bent on making up for last weekends disappointing
result against Japan. "They were very angry, you could see in the first couple
of rucks, there was a couple of exchanges, they obviously wanted to impose
physically," Cotter said. "I think thats part of their team psyche, they enjoy
that type of thing. "I think they played particularly well. . . theyre doing
some good things." The BMO Field crowd was positive on the afternoon -- another
strong rugby turnout at the lakeside venue that Canadian players have dubbed
their unofficial home. Some 22,566 fans squeezed into BMO Field to watch the
Maori All Blacks beat the Canadians 40-15 there last November -- a North
American record crowd for the sport. Canadas loss to Ireland a few months
earlier drew 20,396 fans to the stadium that is normally home to Major League
Soccers Toronto FC. "It felt awesome," said Ardron, who grew up in Lakefield,
Ont., just north of Peterborough. "Its so hard to comment on how good it felt
now after such a devastating loss, a close game like that. But having the
support behind us the whole game felt great." The game was Scotlands first
victory over Canada on Canadian soil. Canada had beaten Scotland twice at home
-- 24-19 in 1991 in Saint John, N.B., and 26-23 in Vancouver in 2002. Theyve met
two times in Scotland, both Scottish victories -- 22-2 in Edinburgh in 1995 and
41-0 in Aberdeen in 2008. The game was halted for about 10 minutes midway
through the first half while medical staff attended to Scotlands Alasdair
Strokosch. Strokosch was eventually wheeled off the pitch on a stretcher. The
Canadians face the United States next Saturday in a Pacific Nations Cup game in
Sacramento, Calif.
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returned a missed field goal 129 yards early in the fourth quarter as the
Roughriders beat the B.C.
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time in the making. “He hasnt thrown well, clearly some guys are being used more
than him right now and the only way to get out of this funk is to pitch,” said
general manager Alex Anthopoulos.MIAMI -- Pat Riley walked into the room to
begin his end-of-season availability annoyed, and armed with history. There have
been franchises that have enjoyed prolonged runs of greatness during his 45
years as a player, coach and executive in the NBA -- the Lakers, Celtics, Bulls,
Spurs and his Miami Heat among them -- and Thursday Riley pointed out each
shares a trait. They all lost sometime. "I think everybody," the Heat president
said moments after smacking the table to begin the news conference, "needs to
get a grip." With that, Riley was off and running on a message-sending session
that lasted nearly an hour. No players were there, but they surely heard his
themes: He saw his teams mental fatigue during the year, but doesnt accept it;
he isnt willing to let Miami fall from the ranks of the NBA elite, and the
organization will do what it can to keep LeBron James, Chris Bosh and
Dwyane Wade together. "We have a tremendous opportunity here for long-term
success," Riley said. "Dont think were not going to get beat again, so just get
a grip, everybody. Thats my message. Its my message to the players, also." It
was one of his many messages. Riley, who gets a reported $75,000 when hired to
deliver motivational speeches, worked in anecdotes on everything from sipping
Johnnie Walker Blue to playing James Ingram records to how even at 69 years old
he still finds himself dreaming big. He was speaking with reporters, but clearly
talking to players through the cameras. "Youve got to stay together, if youve
got the guts," Riley said. "You dont find the first door and run out of it if
you have an opportunity. This is four years now into this era, this team. Four
finals -- its only been done three other times before -- and two championships.
From day one to the end, it was like a Broadway show. It sort of ran out of
steam. And we need to retool. We dont need to rebuild." How to retool is the
question, but the answer isnt up to Riley yet. James, Bosh and Wade all need to
decide if theyre going to opt out of their contracts, a choice that was probably
going to be complicated even if the Heat hadnt lost the NBA Finals to San
Antonio, ending Miamis two-year reign as leaague champions.
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USA. . From those decisions, Heat free-agents-to-be -- Ray Allen,
Mario Chalmers, Chris Andersen and others -- may start charting their futures.
Players from other teams will listen as well. Then Riley and the Heat spring
into action on July 1, just as they did four years ago when they netted James,
Bosh and Wade. Other than Norris Cole, no Heat player currently is locked into a
fully guaranteed deal for next season. But Riley doesnt feel the Heat need to
recruit current players again. "Were prepared," Riley said. "Weve got the
main-themed book all written up and its dependent on whatever the scenario were
presented with on July 1. Weve got a lot of room for flexibility. Theres a
tremendous amount of flexibility depending on what happens. So were ready." He
offered plenty of perspective on Thursday, about how he still feels like he
choked away what should have been a title for the Lakers team he coached in
1984, but how they roared back with three titles in the next four seasons. He
even referenced how San Antonio got much better this season after seeing a title
in 2013 get taken away by Miami in dramatic fashion. "What happened last year
with San Antonio? Did they run? They faced it," Riley said. "They faced it and
they came back, and we saw the result. Well find out what were made of here. Its
not about options. Its not about free agency. Its not about anything. Its about
what we have built over four years here." Among Rileys more impassioned defences
was the one of Wade, who was widely criticized for both missing 28 games in the
regular season -- mainly part of a maintenance program laid out by the team --
and for struggling in Games 4 and 5 of the NBA Finals. "For the last 10 years,
this has been a Dwyane Wade-driven thing," Riley said. "Now does he have to
reinvent himself a little bit? Absolutely." Riley can only hope that reinvention
is in Miami, and that James and Bosh are there as well. "Im an Irish guy who
believes in big dreams," Riley said. "Im optimistic. Until thats proven
different, I just have a level of optimism that there isnt a better place for
players to be than Miami."
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