Wales stutter to Canada win
Wales overcame the early loss of James Hook to injury to claim a 34-13 victory over Canada in Cardiff on Friday evening.
Last Updated: 14/11/08 10:15pm
Wales overcame the early loss of James Hook to injury to claim a 34-13 victory over Canada at the Millennium Stadium on Friday evening.
Hook went off after 18 minutes with a knee injury but his replacement, 19-year-old Dan Biggar, marked his Test debut with an assured display.
Wales led just 10-6 at half-time, tries from Morgan Stoddart and Leigh Halfpenny being answered by two James Pritchard penalties for Canada.
But they eased away in the second half thanks to two penalty tries from Australian referee Stuart Dickinson and Halfpenny's second late on.
Hook's injury looks set to keep him out of Wales' November 22 date with New Zealand and, on the evidence of this performance, the All Blacks have little to fear from Warren Gatland's men.
Canada were not expected to pose a major threat, having arrived in Cardiff with an inexperienced team and fresh from a 55-0 drubbing against Ireland.
Feeling yellow
And that looked to be the case in the early stages as Wales - wearing a new change kit of gold shirts - predictably enjoyed early domination against a Canadian line-up featuring three players from England's National League One, plus two more on the bench.
But the hosts failed to turn their dominance into points, despite Halfpenny going close when he chased a Tom Shanklin kick, and it was Canada who got the first points through Pritchard's 10th-minute penalty.
Hook missed a chance to draw Wales level three minutes later, and with the home side struggling under Canada's high-kick barrage, there was little to enthuse a 50,000 crowd.
Dickinson was quick to punish Welsh technical indiscipline, and Wales' sense of frustration quickly deepened as Hook made his early exit.
Wales regrouped with Biggar at stand-off and finally broke through after 25 minutes when Stoddart squeezed over in the left corner from Shanklin's pass.
Biggar narrowly missed the touchline conversion, but Wales - somewhat belatedly - were up and running, only for Pritchard to land a superb 50-metre penalty and edge Canada back in front.
Wales pressed for a second try as the interval approached, yet a combination of forced midfield passing and tight Canadian defence meant the score did not arrive until Halfpenny struck.
Captain subbed
Head coach Gatland hauled off skipper Ryan Jones just 10 minutes into the second period.
Biggar had added a penalty to extend Wales' lead to 13-6 before a double change in the 50th minute saw Jones and debutant scrum-half Martin Roberts replaced by Andy Powell - man of the match against world champions South Africa last weekend - and Dwayne Peel, who took over leadership duties.
A penalty try, awarded against the Canadian front row, quickly followed, and Wales were home and dry at 20-6 with a quarter of the contest still remaining.
After a second penalty try was awarded by Dickinson, sustained pressure deep inside Canada's 22 suggested more points might at last begin to flow, but it was visiting centre Ryan Smith who struck, collecting Biggar's wayward pass in the 74th minute for a try that Pritchard improved.
The impressive Halfpenny completed the scoring with a breakaway effort in injury time for his second try.
