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Dolan scores hat trick, Americans down Canada 42-17 in rugby test match

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HALIFAX — Cam Dolan scored three tries as the United States downed Canada 42-17 to take home the Can-Am Cup in a rugby test match Saturday.

Nate Augspurger, Blaine Scully and Ruben de Haas also scored tries for the American team known as the U.S. Eagles. AJ Macginty had four conversions and two penalties, earning man of the match honours.

Evan Olmstead and Jeff Hassler had second-half tries for the Canadians. Shane O'Leary had a penalty and two conversions.

"I don't think it was really a full 80-minute performance," said Olmstead, although he added the home team "really showed some improvement in patches."

"We looked really dangerous with the ball, we scored some good tries all over the park," he said. "But (we had) just too many mistakes."

The game was the 60th between the two North American rivals in a series that started with a 17-6 Canada victory in May 1977 in Burnaby, B.C.

Canada leads the overall series 38-20-2, although the Americans have dominated in recent years with an 8-0-1 record since losing a 13-11 decision at BMO Field in August 2013.

Canada opened the scoring Saturday in the 16th minute when O'Leary converted on a penalty for a 3-0 lead.

But the U.S. replied with two tries and a penalty to go into halftime up 13-3.

"We were under a lot of pressure, we knew that we were going to get Canada's best and we were going to have to weather some storms throughout," said Scully, who is captain of the American squad.

"They brought a huge amount of intensity to the match, so really for us it was about resetting, getting our stuff together and then knowing what we can do from a defensive system point of view," the wing added. "We then demonstrated for most of the game afterwards."

The Americans came out firing in the second half with Dolan scoring his second of the match in the 45th minute. He completed his hat trick in the 68th minute, putting the U.S. up 28-10.

A sold-out crowd of about 6,200 fans filled the Wanderers Grounds, a public green space in downtown Halifax, for the first-ever test match in Nova Scotia.

Olmstead said the venue was "fantastic."

"This is the second time I've played in Halifax," he said. "This is great; right in the middle of town, six-and-a-half thousand screaming Canadians, you know. It was getting emotional during the anthem, just the volume was louder than what I've heard."

"It was really good, fantastic support, and great pitch."

Canada and the U.S. have met once before in Atlantic Canada, when they played a qualifying match for the 2006 Rugby World Cup in St. John's, N.L. Halifax hosted a warm-up match to the 2015 World Cup between Canada and the Glasgow Warriors, which was supposed to unfold at the same pop-up location as Saturday's match, but was moved to Graves-Oakley Memorial Park in the city's southwest end at the last minute because of poor field conditions.

The test match was hosted by Sports and Entertainment Atlantic, which is hosting eight rugby, soccer and football games on the Wanderers Grounds over the summer and fall months. The Halifax-based event management company is also making the park home to a new Canadian Premier League professional men's soccer team, the HFX Wanderers, starting next year.

Canada lost all three of its test matches in the June international rugby series, including a 48-10 loss to Scotland on June 9 and a 43-20 defeat against Russia on June 16 that dropped the Canadian squad to No. 22 in the world rankings.

The 15th-ranked U.S. Eagles began by thumping No. 19 Russia 62-13 before edging a young Scottish side 30-29 to notch their first win over a Tier 1 nation in 94 years.

Kristen Lipscombe, The Canadian Press


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