A sun-drenched, wind-swept, state-of-the-art ground, a relaxed crowd enjoying the warm weather, a fast bowling green of a pitch, and two attacks distinctly lacking in penetration. Given the size of England's bowling attack in the test match against Sri Lanka, it was sometimes easy to forget whether one was watching the action from Lords or the opening fixture in this season's Churchill Cup between Italy 'A' and Canada at Northampton's Franklin's Gardens.
In terms of adrenaline and excitement there was only one winner today. Whilst England's tail and Sri Lanka's openers sent the ball flying to the boundary on a regular basis, in the first half of the curtain raiser for rugby's premiere developmental tournament barely a glimmer of a chance to cross the whitewash was produced. Canada looked the more dangerous side with the ball in hand, but this was countered by Italy's dominance at the scrum. With little space available in the opening exchanges it turned into a battle between the Italians' cute dinks and the Canadians' high balls & long hoofs; the former were aimless and the latter inaccurate, drifting in the strong wind all too often into the stands.
In the first half at least, it was Canada's excellent ball retention and patience that allowed them to keep in touch on the scoreboard. Their back row of Jebb Sinclair, Chauncey O'Toole and Aaron Carpenter looked balanced, and worked well to retain the ball. It created penalty opportunities for Bedford and former Saints full-back James Pritchard, and a drop-goal chance that was neatly taken by fly-half Ander Munro. Meanwhile at the other end of the pitch the Italian front row began to assert its authority, and despite Canadian number three Jason Marshall's good work in the loose “ a try-saving tackle on Michele Sepe the highlight of an insipid first half “ he struggled in the scrum, where the Italians created four opportunities, three converted, for scrum-half Tito Tebaldi to kick them into a 9-6 half-time lead.
The second period opened in much the same vein as the first, with neither side really asserting its authority. The wave of momentum turned however, on a key moment after 42 minutes. Italy's number 8 Manoa Vosawai broke from the base of a scrum inside the Canadian 22, but his offload failed to find the supporting Mauro Bergamasco, and Canada kicked clear. The ball was fielded by full-back Ruggero Trevisan, who had been struggling with the wind all day. After stepping one man, his blind and thoughtless pass was intercepted, and with three Canadians overlapping it took a cynical intervention on the line by captain Bernabo to stop scoring. The flanker was sin-binned, although Dave Pearson bizarrely failed to award the penalty try.
Nonetheless, Canada, a man to the good in the pack, opted for the scrum, from which number 8 Carpenter crossed. After some deliberation the TMO saw fit to award the try, and from then on the game was over as a contest. The outstanding openside flanker O'Toole, who had already made a number of eye-catching breaks, became increasingly influential; his 50m break down the right wing was followed by some excellent recycling which led to Marshall going over on the left.
Canada's third try was indubitably the afternoon's highlight, and one that would have had a glow of familiarity for the many locals in the Franklin's Gardens crowd. It was O'Toole again who created it, bursting through the Azzuri backline on halfway and cutting inside, before offloading to Pritchard who had run an excellent supporting line to cross under the posts. It may have lacked the sheer terrifying pace of Foden and Ashton, but there was more than a hint of their slickness about the score.
Thereafter chances presented themselves, but at this level the skill level is low enough that one expects a certain number to be spurned. For Canada Sinclair was held up over the line in a rare moment of good work by the inept Trevisan, whilst Italy spent a good two minutes over the eighty camped on the Canadian line only to cough up possession at the death. Ultimately the two sides had to settle for just one further penalty apiece.
The scorers:
Italy 'A' Pens: Tebaldi (4/5)
Canada Tries: Carpenter, Marshall, Pritchard; Cons.: Pritchard (1/3); Pens.: Pritchard (2/4); Drops: Munro
