The young, rebuilding Canadian men's 15s rugby squad fell 25-18 to Belgium in a test match played Saturday, July 12, in Edmonton.
Lavington's Isaac Olson was among the starting backs for new Canadian head coach Stephen Meehan, but did not find the try line.
Despite matching Belgium with three tries apiece and controlling long stretches of possession and territory, Canada was undone by a clinical Belgian counterattack and some crucial moments that didn鈥檛 fall their way.
Wing Josiah Morra (Scarborough, Ont.), hooker Andrew Quattrin (Holland Landing, Ont., a teammate of Olson's with the Major Rugby League's three-time reigning champion New England Free Jacks) and replacement Si么n Parry (Cardiff, Wales) crossed the try line for the Canadians. Halifax鈥檚 Cooper Coats added a first-half penalty.
Canada led 13-12 at halftime.
Belgium 鈥� ranked one spot above Canada at No. 23 in the World Rugby Rankings heading into the match 鈥� made the most of limited opportunities, scoring three tries and adding a pair of late penalty goals.
鈥淚t was a first run-out with the new setup we鈥檙e running, and it鈥檚 really exciting,鈥� said second row Piers Von Dadelszen to Rugby Canada post-game. Von Dadelszen is from Vancouver and plays professionally with the Free Jacks. He earned Teck Player of the Match honours.
鈥淭here鈥檚 a lot we can take away from this 鈥� a few passes not sticking, and Belgium were awesome on the counterattack 鈥� but that鈥檚 how we want to play. We鈥檙e trying to bring a more exciting brand of rugby to Canadian fans, and we鈥檙e looking forward to it all coming together going forward.鈥�
Saturday鈥檚 match marked Belgium鈥檚 first-ever victory over Canada in four test meetings and their first time scoring points against the Canadians since 2021.
Meehan handed opportunities to several emerging players, with only five members of the matchday 23 bringing more than 20 test caps into the game (Olson has a handful of caps for Canada).
The experience is expected to serve the group well as they continue building toward the upcoming Pacific Nations Cup Aug. 22 to Sept. 19, that sees Canada in a pool with the U.S. and Japan for the six-nations event (other pool has Fiji, Tongo, and Samoa). Canada will play the Americans in Calgary on Aug. 22, then head oversees to Sendei to play host Japan Aug. 30.
Canada is back on the Clarke Stadium pitch in Edmonton Saturday, July 18, when it takes on World No. 15 Spain. Game time is 6 p.m. PT.
