Canada opened their 2018 Wheelchair Rugby World Championship campaign with a 42-51 loss to France on Sunday evening at the Quaycenter in Sydney, Australia. Despite an improved performance in the second half, Canada were unable to overturn an early deficit.

A 3-2-2-1 balanced lineup combination consisting of Lavoie, Caldwell, Murao and Hirschfield was used to start the game for Team Canada. As for their opponents, France, they started a high-low lineup combination (3-3-1.5-0.5), consisting of Salegui, Hivernat, Nankin and Chalmin.

The first quarter of the match proved to be rather one-sided in favor of France, as they managed to come out of the blocks full of energy and intensity. It put Canada on their heels, forcing them to make uncharacteristic turnovers in critical areas of the court and use up a pair of their timeouts. The quarter would finish with Canada trailing by 5 points, 9-14.

Branden Troutman, making his World Championship debut, would come off the bench at the start of the second quarter and inject some speed into the Canadian lineup. His impact would be immediate and Canada’s overall play would improve. France, however, were in a ruthless mood and continued to take their chances, extending the lead at half-time to 8 points.

Team Canada would rally in the third quarter and manage to, at some point, narrow the gap to 5 points. The sudden shift in momentum, would result from Canada tightening up on defence. It forced France to work a lot harder for their tries, which led to turnovers in favour of Canada. The quarter would end 31-37 in favour of France.

The fourth quarter was a stalemate, as both team would trade tries back-and-forth and no team was really able to dominate. The clock would eventually tick down to zero and the match would finish Canada 42 France 51.

Sunday’s result was without a doubt a disappointment for this young Canadian team, who has progressed so well over the last year. They’ll take it in their stride, learn from it and move forward.

Canada Head Coach Patrick Côté speaking after the Match:

“Obviously, it’s not the result we expected. We lacked energy at the start of the game and dug ourselves a big hole within the first few minutes, that we never managed to get out of.”

“We had a tough time beating our one-on-one matchups, while on offence. To improve, we are going to need to move the ball a lot better (than we did tonight). That ball is faster than any of the players out there. If we increase our passing and improve the execution of our passing, we’ll be more productive on offence.”

“I’m very pleased and impressed with Branden’s game. It was his first ever game at a world championship and he came out firing. He actually brought us back on track, in terms of executing our game plan. He brought speed and energy to the game, which I though his teammates fed off of. So kudos to him.”

“I’m expecting the team to get together and support each other better. We are in control of how we show up tomorrow (against Poland). Nobody else is going to say sorry for us, so we need to put our heads up and go again tomorrow”

HIGHLIGHTS

NEXT MATCH: Canada v Poland (August 6 at 02:00 EST // August 5 at 11:00 PST)

Canada (0-1) don’t usually take kindly to losing and their opening loss to France, will ensure that they come out swinging on Monday afternoon against Poland (0-1) at the Quaycenter.

Poland are considered the underdogs of Pool B and the second lowest ranked nation in the tournament at No.17 in the world. They suffered a 55-31 at the hands of Great Britain, in their opening match of the 2018 Wheelchair Rugby World Championship.

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Key Facts:  POLAND (0-1)

World Championship: 8th Place (2010)
Paralympics: Not Participated
World Ranking: 17th
2018 WRWC Qualification: 3rd Place – IWRF 2018 World Championship Qualification Tournament
Head Coach: Janusz Kozah
Squad: Mateusz Wawczak (3.5), Izabela Sopalska-Rybak (2.5), Arkadiusz Henicz (2.5), Paweł Sierakowski (2.0), Łukasz Szałabski (2.0), Leszek Łachmanowicz (2.0), Rafał Rocki (2.0), Paweł Szostak (2.0), Krzysztof Kapusta (2.0), Tomasz Witkowski (1.5), Dominik Rymer (1.0), Krzysztof Kosider (0.5)

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Canada’s match against Poland will be played on Monday, August 6 2018 at 02:30 EST // Sunday, August 6 2018 at 11:30 PST. The match will be available to be watched live on Wheelchair Rugby Canada’s Facebook page HERE.

All matches will also be available live on cbcsports.ca and via the CBC Sports app will be livestreamed on cbcsports.ca and via the CBC Sports app for iOS and Android devices, as well as cbc.ca/watch and via the CBC TV App.