Some solace for England Saxons
Canucks crushed in Toronto
London Irish star Delon Armitage had double reason to celebrate in Toronto after helping the England Saxons to a comfortable 41-11 victory over Canada in Saturday's Churchill Cup encounter at York Stadium.
The Trinidad-born wing scored two sharp tries in the first half as the Saxons atoned for last weekend's 13-7 defeat to Scotland 'A' and booked their place in next Saturday's plate final in Edmonton.
Armitage's performance came just hours after Trinidad and Tobago had held out for a shock draw with Sweden at the World Cup in Germany.
Armitage may struggle with split loyalties when Trinidad and Tobago take on David Beckham's men in Nuremberg this Thursday – but this day was all about England.
Saracens wing Richard Haughton put the Saxons ahead before Armitage scored twice in quick succession to open England a 20-0 lead.
Canada hit back with a well-worked try for Coventry winger Nik Witkowski but England surged clear again after the interval with scores from powerful number eight Kai Horstmann and centre Chris Bell.
The game ended on a sour note for Canada, who had lock Matt Phinney sent off for punching before Newcastle flanker Ben Woods rounded off the win with the Saxons' sixth try.
England meet the loser of Saturday's Pool B clash in San Francisco between New Zealand Maori and Ireland A.
The Saxons made nine changes from the Scotland game, with Saracens centre Ben Johnston handed the captaincy, while Canada included Edinburgh fly-half Ander Monro whose grandfather, Lord Monro of Langholm, still sits in the House of Lords and is a former president of the Scottish Rugby Union.
Canada struggled to clear their lines in the heavy head wind and England took maximum advantage as scrum-half Richard Wigglesworth scooped up a loose ball at the base of England's scrum and darted through the Canadian defence.
Wigglesworth's long pass deflected off Justin Mensah-Coker and Haughton, the England Sevens international, juggled the ball before scoring in the right corner.
Walder missed the touchline conversion but extended England's lead with a penalty from under the posts after a powerful Saxons drive.
England's dominance, particularly in the forward exchanges, was heightened after 14 minutes with the sin-binning of Phinney for throwing a punch.
Walder was just beaten to own chip by Witkowski and Bell then had a try ruled out for a forward pass after Horstmann and Luke Narraway combined well down the left flank.
England were picking holes in the Canadian defence almost at will and finally applied the killer touch as Armitage raced over twice in the space of three minutes.
Johnston's pace in midfield took him around his opposite man and he fed Armitage, who cut back on the angle and evaded the clutches of five Canadian defenders to score in the right corner.
Three minutes later and it was Walder who conjured up the opening with a sharp turn of pace as he cut between Monro and David Spicer to send Armitage over again.
Walder's excellent conversion opened England a 20-0 lead – but it did not last as Canada, back to full strength, built their phases to stretch the Saxons and full-back Ed Fairhurst provided the scoring pass for Witkowski.
Canada carried their momentum into the second half and a lightning break from Justin Mensah-Cocker, who was man of the match in the Canucks' 15-10 defeat to Scotland A, forced the Saxons onto the back foot and Monro slotted the penalty.
But as time wore on the Saxons' fitness and strength in depth told. Haughton beat three men with a superb step as England broke down the right wing and Horstmann stretched to score a deserved try.
Bell wasted a golden chance with a poor pass to Armitage but made amends after 62 minutes when he popped up in support to profit from Haughton's searing break.
Phinney was shown his second yellow card before Woods drove over to score with the last play of the game.
The scorers:
For Canada:
Tries: Witkowski
Pens: Monro 2
For England Saxons:
Try: Haughton, Armitage 2, Horstmann, Bell, Woods
Cons: Walder 4
Pens: Walder
Canada: 15 Ed Fairhurst (University of Victoria), 14 Mike Pyke (Edinburgh Gunners, Scotland), 13 Nik Witkowski (Coventry, England), 12 David Spicer (University of Victoria), 11 Justin Mensah-Coker (Meraloma), 10 Ander Monro (Edinburgh Gunners, Scotland), 9 Morgan Williams (Stade Français, France), 8 Sean-Micheal Stephen (Oakville Crusaders), 7 Adam Kleeberger (University of Victoria), 6 David Biddle (Meraloma), 5 Matt Phinney (Meraloma) 4 Luke Tait (Overmach Parma, Italy), 3 Mike Pletch (Oakville Crusaders), 2 Aaron Abrams (Castaway-Wanderers), 1 Mike Barbieri (Overmach Parma, Italy)
Replacements: 16 Pat Riordan (Burnaby Lake), 17 Dan Pletch (Oakville Crusaders), 18 Hubert Buydens (Saskatoon Wild Oats), 19 Oliver Atkinson (Velox Valhallians), 20 Aaron Carpenter (Brantford Harlequins), 21 Kris Witkowski (Castaway-Wanderers), 22 Craig Culpan (Meraloma).
England Saxons: 15 Delon Armitage (London Irish) 14 Richard Haughton (Saracens) 13 Ben Johnston (Saracens, captain), 12 Chris Bell (Leeds Tykes), 11 Alex Crockett (Bath), 10 Dave Walder (Newcastle Falcons), 9 Richard Wigglesworth (Sale Sharks), 8 Kai Horstmann (Worcester Warriors), 7 David Seymour (Saracens), 6 Luke Narraway (Gloucester), 5 Kieran Roche (London Irish), 4 Nick Kennedy (London Irish), 3 Robbie Morris (Newcastle Falcons), 2 David Paice (London Irish), 1 Micky Ward (Newcastle Falcons).
Replacements: 16 James Buckland (Leicester Tigers), 17 David Barnes (Bath), 18 James Hudson (Bath), 19 Ben Woods (Newcastle Falcons), 20 Clive Stuart-Smith (Llanelli Scarlets), 21 Sam Vesty (Leicester Tigers), 22 Ayoola Erinle (London Wasps).
Referee: Olan Trevor (Ireland)
Touch judges: Gary Wise (New Zealand), Kevin McCaslin (USA)
