Canada had gone ahead in the 71st minute as Nick Blevins pierced through the USA backline and ran over half the field for his second try in as many matches. Liam Underwood converted giving Canada a 13-12 lead.
However, USA got within the 22 meter line, slowly inching towards the line before setting up MacGinty who connected to give the USA a fifth place finish at the Pacific Nations Cup.
“It’s another disappointing loss for us,” Canada captain Aaron Carpenter said. “We gave a full performance but I think we stopped playing a little bit at the end there. We let them come at us and we played scared at the end because we’ve lost a couple of tight games in the last couple of outings … test matches evolve around small little things.
“We used this tournament to build and there’s a lot of pieces in the right place. There’s a lot of competition for places and no ones spot is guaranteed.”
Canada lost Wednesday night to Samoa on a last minute try in Toronto and suffered a similar fate on Monday.
“We just weren’t good enough,” Canada head coach Kieran Crowley said. “They had three yellow cards and we couldn’t capitalize. It’s pretty disappointing.”
Canada went ahead only four minutes in as Underwood slotted home a penalty but MacGinty responded with a penalty of his own in the 11th minute. He gave the USA a 6-3 lead in the 22nd minute and minutes later was into Canadian territory as he broke through the line. However, Greg Peterson was sin binned at the end of the play but MacGinty wasn’t deterred as he kicked his third penalty of the game to make it 9-3 in the 25th minute.
John Moonlight joined Peterson in the bin a couple of minutes later and Canada went on the attack but couldn’t find a way through the stingy US defense and MacGinty added a fourth penalty before the interval to make it 12-3 USA.
“AJ has been playing great for us,” USA captain Chris Wyles said. “He showed a lot of composure with that drop goal and his game management has been superb. He’s a great kicker and a real asset. I’m really excited about him growing in this role with us.”
Canada got the first points of the second half as Underwood converted a penalty that had been set up by a blazing Carpenter run and minutes later USA were down to 10 men again in the 49th minute as Danny Barrett went to the bin for a hit on Jeff Hassler. MacGinty was next to go to the sin bin in the 63rd minute and despite having a man advantage for the majority of a 20-minute stretch, Canada couldn’t capitalize until the final minute of MacGinty’s yellow card as Blevins dived over.
The two sides have met more than 50 times, with Canada holding a 38-14-1 record over their rivals south of the border.
Monday’s match was the first of two straight meetings between the two sides as they are set to face off again on August 22nd in Ottawa.
“We’ve built on everything and gone forward,” Crowley said of Canada’s PNC campaign. “We’d like to have at least got one result go our way. We’ve had a couple of [one, two point] losses and we’ve got to win those games.”
Canada’s Roster vs. USA in the Pacific Nations Cup – (Club), Hometown, Province
1 – Hubert Buydens – (Castaway Wanderers/Prairie Wolf Pack) Saskatoon, SK
2 – Aaron Carpenter – Captain (Cornish Pirates/Ontario Blues) Brantford, ON
3 – Jake Ilnicki – (Eastern Suburbs RFC/BC Bears) Williams Lake, BC
4 – Jon Phelan – (Doncaster Knights/Atlantic Rock) Montreal, QB
5 – Brett Beukeboom – (Cornish Pirates) Lindsay, ON
6 – Kyle Gilmour – (Rotherham Titans/Prairie Wolf Pack) St. Albert, AB
7 – John Moonlight – (James Bay AA/Ontario Blues) Pickering, ON
8 – Richard Thorpe – (London Welsh) Beckenham, England
9 – Jamie Mackenzie – (UBCOB Ravens/Ontario Blues) Oakville, ON
10 – Liam Underwood – (Balmy Beach RFC/Ontario Blues) Toronto, ON
11 – Conor Trainor – (UBCOB Ravens/BC Bears) Vancouver, BC
12 – Connor Braid – (Unattached/BC Bears) Victoria, BC
13 – Ciaran Hearn – (Castaway Wanderers/Atlantic Rock) Conception Bay South, NL
14 – Jeff Hassler – (Ospreys) Okotoks, AB
15 – Harry Jones – (Capilano RFC/BC Bears) Vancouver, BC
16 – Ray Barkwill – (Castaway Wanderers/Ontario Blues) Niagara Falls, ON
17 – Djustice Sears-Duru – (Oakville Crusaders/Ontario Blues) Oakville, ON
18 – Doug Wooldridge – (Lindsay RFC/Ontario Blues) Lindsay, ON
19 – Evan Olmstead – (Parramatta Two Blues/Prairie Wolf Pack) Calgary, AB
20 – Nanyak Dala – (Castaway Wanderers/Prairie Wolf Pack) Regina, SK
21 – Phil Mack – (James Bay AA/BC Bears) Victoria, BC
22 – Nick Blevins – (Calgary Hornets/Prairie Wolf Pack) Calgary, AB
23 – James Pritchard – (Bedford Blues) Parkes, NSW, Australia
Senior Men’s Coaching Staff:
Head Coach: Kieran Crowley
Forwards Coach: Neil Barnes
Assistant Coach: Leo Crowley
Scrum Coach: Mike Shelley
Manager: Gareth Rees
USA Roster vs. Canada in the Pacific Nations Cup
1. Eric Fry
2. Zach Fenoglio
3. Titi Lamositele
4. Hayden Smith
5. Greg Peterson
6. Scott LaValla
7. Andrew Durutalo
8. Danny Barrett
9. Mike Petri
10. AJ MacGinty
11. Zack Test
12. Andrew Suniula
13. Seamus Kelly
14. Blaine Scully
15. Chris Wyles (C)
16. Phil Thiel
17. Matekitonga Moeakiola
18. Chris Baumann
19. Cameron Dolan
20. John Quill
21. Al McFarland
22. Shalom Suniula
23. Thretton Palamo
Scoring details:
Canada:
Tries: Nick Blevins
Conversions: Liam Underwood
Penalties: Liam Underwood (2)
USA:
Penalties: AJ MacGinty (4)
Drop goals: AJ MacGinty
Pacific Nations Cup:
July 18 – Canada 6-20 Japan (San Jose, USA)
July 24 – Canada 18-28 Tonga (Swangard Stadium, Burnaby)
July 29 – Canada 20-21 Samoa (BMO Field, Toronto)
August 3 – Canada 13-15 USA (Swangard Stadium, Burnaby)
Road to the Rugby World Cup:
August 22 – Canada vs. USA (Twin Elm Rugby Park, Ottawa)
August 29 – Canada vs. Glasgow Warriors (Wanderers Grounds, Halifax)
September 2 – Canada vs. Georgia (Esher, England)
September 6 – Canada vs. Fiji (The Stoop, England)
Rugby World Cup:
September 19 – Canada vs. Ireland (Cardiff, Wales)
September 26 – Canada vs. Italy (Leeds, England)
October 1 – Canada vs. France (Milton Keynes, England)
October 6 – Canada vs. Romania (Leicester, England)
