The United States have won the 2018 Canada Cup, beating Japan 56-53 in the gold medal game.

This marks the sixth title in six appearances at the Canada Cup for Team USA who went a perfect 6-0 in the competition.

The game started off tight and the score was at 13 at the end of the first quarter, but the tide started to turn in the second quarter. The Americans forced several turnovers made Japan burn three timeouts by halftime, which they entered with a three-try lead courtesy of an Aoki try with 0.1 seconds left in the first half.

USA would extend their lead to as many as six in the third quarter, only for Japan to push back and get it back within three heading into the fourth, in which the Americans would hold on for the 56-53 win.

Japan ends the tournament with their highest finish at the Canada Cup, improving upon their bronze medal performance from the 2016 edition.

American Chuck Aoki led all scorers with 28 tries and was named tournament MVP after leading the Americans with 126 tries and 13 steals while only committing 8 turnovers across six games.

The bronze medal went to the Australian Steelers who dispatched Canada 63-56 behind 35 tries from tournament all-star and leading scorer 3.5 Ryley Batt.

The hosts battled hard in the loss and managed to frustrate the Australians at times. Fabien Lavoie  led the Canadians with 14 tries in another balanced performance that saw eight players score tries, including 4 from tournament all-star Travis Murao.\

Denmark finished the tournament in 5th place after beating Sweden 57-54 in the consolation match thanks to 29 tries from Sebastien Frederiksen.

Final Standings

1. USA
2. Japan
3. Australia
4. Canada
5. Denmark
6. Sweden

Tournament All-Stars

• 0.5 Jeff Butler (USA)
• 1.0 Steffan Jansson (Sweden)
• 1.5 Seiya Norimatsu (Japan)
• 
2.0 Travis Murao (Canada)
• 
2.5 Josh Wheeler
• 3.0 Chuck Aoki
• 3.5 Ryley Batt
• MVP: Chuck Aoki (USA)

Congratulations to all of the competing teams on a fantastic Canada Cup, thank you to the volunteers and all of the Canada Cup sponsors and partners, without whom the tournament would not be possible including the Government of Canada, Government of British Columbia, IBEW Local 253, Vesco Metal Craft, Hollister, the Sheraton Vancouver Airport, the Marriot Vancouver Airport, the Hilton Vancouver Airport and all of our supporters.

All Canada Cup games are archive online at www.sportscanada.tv/wheelchairrugby

Full results and statistics are available at www.canadacupwcrugby.com