Tyler Ardron marked his return to international rugby ahead of what he has previously said will be his final season as a player in four-try style, as Canada eased away from USA in Calgary to give coach Stephen Meehan his first win in his third test as head coach.
And Tonga looked in total control from start to finish against Samoa in their first outing of the tournament, as they raced into a 17-0 lead with a direct gameplan to which the visitors had no answer.
CANADA 34 USA 20
Tyler Ardron scored four tries, including a first-half hat-trick, on his return to Canada colours after two years in the international wilderness to help his side to a 34-20 win over USA in the opening match of the Asahi Super Dry Pacific Nations Cup 2025 and take a huge step towards direct qualification for Rugby World Cup 2027.
It wasn’t the most-spectacular triple in rugby history but Ardron, who plays his club rugby for Castres Olympique in France’s Top 14, won’t care as it helped Canada get a first win over their neighbours to the south for the first time since 2021, and only their second in their last 16 meetings.
His first came in just the third minute, as he crashed over from close range. His second owed everything to the quick-thinking of full-back Peter Nelson, whose inch-perfect crossfield kick from a quickly taken penalty meant he just had to catch and touchdown. His third, five minutes before the break was a smart pick and dot from the back of a ruck.
He and fellow vintage French export, Agen’s Evan Olmstead, were at the forefront of everything Canada – who dominated the set piece and structured play – did well in Calgary.
While Ardron and Olmstead will generate most of the headlines, coach Stephen Meehan was keen to stress the team effort. “I thought the players delivered everything we asked of them,” he said shortly after the final whistle. “Collectively, we’re really happy with what we’ve achieved.”
But Meehan’s side did not have the first-half all their own way on home soil – far from it – as the Eagles gave as good as they got, and looked dangerous in the open spaces. A penalty kicked to touch in the seventh minute of a fast and frenetic opening period led to their opening try as Dominic Besag darted through on a cutback line.
USA took the lead 10 minutes later as the experienced AJ MacGinty found ex-Scotland international Rufus Maclean to score in the corner.
Two more MacGinty penalties and a reply from Nelson meant the scores were level at 20-20 with half-an-hour left to play.
But Ardron’s fourth, after 57 minutes, gave the home side the advantage heading into the final quarter as Canada began to turn the screw. And Nelson won the race to his own hack ahead to extend their lead to 14 with less than 20 minutes to play.
USA’s bid to fight their way back into the game took a decisive blow when McGinty was sent to the sin-bin for a deliberate knock-on. By that time, however, Canada were in complete control. And they held USA at bay as the clock ran down.
Eagles’ head coach Scott Lawrence said after the match, “Discipline in our lineout and territory battle are critical elements to win in test match rugby, we lost those categories tonight. Both will become the focus as we look ahead to the next round and remainder of the tournament.”
Canada will play Japan next weekend in Sendai, while USA have a week to recover and rebuild before meeting Eddie Jones’s Brave Blossoms in Sacramento, on 6 September, before all six teams head to Denver, Colorado, for the semi-finals and fifth-place play-off.
TONGA 30 SAMOA 16
Tonga kicked off their Pacific Nations Cup 2025 challenge with a dominant 30-16 win over Manu Samoa at Teufaiva Stadium, Nuku’alofa, to put their bid for Rugby World Cup 2027 qualification firmly on the front foot.
The hosts showed little sign of test-match rust as they raced into a 17-0 lead in their first international of the year, a week after beating an out-of-season Queensland Reds in their only warm-up outing of 2025.
Siosuia Moala got the scoreboard rolling with seven minutes on the clock, captain Ben Tameifuna throwing his weight behind the flanker to power him over from close range following a 5m lineout.
And scrum-half Sonatane Takulua doubled their try-scoring advantage with 25 minutes on the clock as he won the race to a loose ball that had bounced free from a messy lineout close to the Samoan line.
His halfback partner Patrick Pellegrini converted both touchdowns, and added the first of his two first-half penalties for good measure, before Samoa troubled the scoreboard, via the first of two AJ Alatimu penalties at the end of the opening period.
The visitors threatened an unlikely comeback when winger Tuna Tuitama was on the end of Melani Nanai’s lovely offload to score in the corner as Samoa finally broke their try duck with an hour on the clock. But they struggled all match in the set-piece, and with Tonga’s direct, solid and powerful gameplan.
ʻIkale Tahi replacement Sam Moli was at the back of an unstoppable maul shortly after the hour to take the match out of reach. Nanai’s diving finish to a spectacular Samoa strike from halfway after the hooter was only ever going to be defiant consolation.
Samoa’s Michael Alaalatoa admitted afterwards: “It’s a very tough day for us. Full credit to the Tongan boys. It’s not how we wanted it to go – we prepared really well for the last two weeks. When you’re playing in Tonga, you can’t afford to give them any lead like that - it’s going to be too hard to get back.”
Tonga captain Ben Tameifuna, meanwhile, hailed the welcome the fans put on. “It’s been an awesome occasion,” he said. “We came to Tonga a couple of weeks ago – to get to where we are now is pretty awesome.”
Tonga travel to Suva next weekend to face Fiji. Samoa will host the Flying Fijians at Rotorua a week later.
