Canadian men's rugby team defeated by Tonga, go winless at Pacific Nations Cup tournament

Tonga ran in three first-half tries and relied on some stingy second-half defence to defeat Canada 30-17 in the fifth-place match Saturday at the Pacific Nations Cup rugby tournament in Tokyo.

While the Canadian men fared well at set pieces, they were hurt by inopportune mistakes — often triggered by some physical Tonga defence. And the flowing Tongan attack took advantage.

The young Canadians had the ball in the Tonga end for long stretches of the second half but were unable to turn that possession into points until the 67th minute when Takoda McMullin slashed through the Tonga defence to cut the deficit to 22-15.

Canada was reduced to 10 men in the 70th minute when flanker Ethan Fryer was sin-binned for a high tackle. The ensuing Tongan penalty kick upped the lead to 25-17 and the Pacific Islanders added a last-minute try by John Tapueluelu, his second of the match.

"We've got to start converting in that [attacking] zone," said Canada captain Lucas Rumball. "It's been a theme for us all tournament."

Canada lost its opening two games of the six-team tournament, beaten 55-28 by No. 14 Japan on Aug. 25 in Vancouver and 28-15 by the 19th-ranked U.S. on Aug. 31 in Carson, Calif. Tonga lost 43-17 to No. 13 Samoa and 50-19 to No. 10 Fiji.

The Canada-Tonga game — a 4 p.m. local time kickoff — was followed by the first semifinal between Fiji and the U.S. at Prince Chichibu Memorial Stadium. Samoa faces Japan on Sunday in the second semifinal.

The final and third-place games are set for Sept. 21 in Higashiosaka City.

Andrew Quattrin also scored a try for Canada, which trailed 19-10 at the half. Peter Nelson kicked a penalty and two conversions.

"There's lots of positives for us ... I'm proud of the players, the way they've stuck