An 80th minute penalty by Ben Cima sent the USA to the World Rugby U20 Trophy as they edged Canada 19-18 Saturday night in a qualifier match at Austin, Texas.
Canada, with Comox Valley’s Nakai Penny in the back row, had taken the lead in 76th minute when fly half Robbie Povey’s penalty flew between the sticks, but Cima converted from inside his own half, having missed a penalty a mere 90 seconds earlier, to give the USA a one-point victory.
The USA will represent North America at the World Rugby U20 Trophy Tournament in Zimbabwe this April.
Penny was one of 12 B.C. players on the 25-man Canadian roster. His UBC Thunderbirds teammate Foster Dewitt (hooker) was on the non-travelling reserves roster.
Two other Comox Valley players were invited to the 39-player Team Canada selection camp at Shawnigan Lake School in January: Black Creek’s Callum Passingham (prop, UBC Thunderbirds) who could not attend due to injury and Trevor Caton (scrum half, Vancouver Rowing Club).
The camp concluded with a comprehensive 44-7 win over Castaway Wanderers. Dewitt scored a try in that contest.
“There was incredible depth this year which meant some excellent players were going to miss out,” head coach Jeff Williams said of the camp.
“We had a forwards camp for three days to focus on our set pieces and we looked at our technique in different facets of the game,” he added.
