Halfback Gordon McRorie’s conversion made the difference as Canada A staged a late comeback to beat Samoa A 28 - 26 and claim the third place in the 2015 World Rugby Pacific Challenge at the ANZ Stadium in Suva last nught,
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It was also a sweet revenge for the Canadians as they had lost their pool match to the Samoans 19 - 17 earlier in the tournament.
Fly half and captain Patrick Faapale scored the first points for Samoa A from a penalty but a try from his opposite number Liam Underwood and a successful conversion by halfback Gordon McRorie put the Canadians up seventy three minutes later.
Towering hooker Andrew Williams scored the first try for Samoa from a powerful drive to regain the lead for his side.
Two successful penalties by McRorie put Canada back in the lead.
Faapale slotted in a penalty and a drop goal to put Samoa up 14 - 13 before Faialaga Afamasaga dived in the corner for their second try which was successfully converted by Faapale to put Samoa in the driving seat with a 21 - 13 halftime lead.
McRorie scored the first points of the second spell through a penalty to narrow the gap to five points and a try by replacement forward Ray Barkwill levelled the scores.
Williams scored his second try of the afternoon as he barged through to score and put Samoa in the lead.
Flanker Alistair Clark scored Canada’s most important try between the sticks right at the stroke of fulltime to bring the scores level at 21 - 21.
And it was all left to McRorie to seal the win with his boots.
Canadian captain Ciaran Hearn said they were lucky to escape with the win as Samoa played very well and did not look to surrender.
“This was one of our toughest matches of this tournament. Samoa was a very tough opponent like always. I am so happy that we managed to beat them and return home with a third place finish.”
“It was a closely contested match and the winner had to be determined right at fulltime. I thank my teammates for fighting till the end. We never gave up and knew we were going to get something positive if we continued to play our game and stay focused.”
Samoan vice captain Andrew Williams said lapse of concentration in the later stages of the game took victory away from them.
“It was a very tight match and I congratulate Canada for the win. We could have won it but a bit of slackness towards the end cost us the third spot.
We have learned a lot from this tournament and will now head back home and look forward to the competition next year,” he added.
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