The first half of the Eagles rematch against Canada Saturday in Glendale, Colo. was reminiscent of the bulk of the game in Toronto a week earlier --  the Americans got the better of possession and phase play, but some critical errors led to a Canadian advantage.

Canada scored first when American hooker Chris Biller made a line break and John van der Giessen bobbled the ball at the back of the ensuing ruck. Canada’s DTH van der Merwe scooped up the loose ball and raced untouched for a centered try.

Canada then stretched their lead to 10 with a penalty. Eagle fly half Nese Malifa missed his two first-half shots at goal, both from near the vertical five-meter line.

Canada was shown two yellow cards for ruck infringements in the first 40 minutes, but not until the very end of the second power play did the Eagles finally capitalize and score, when a short-range grubber from Nese Malifa was dove on in the try zone by Blaine Scully. Malifa hit the difficult conversion, pulling the Eagles to within three.

Directly after the restart Canada went back on the front foot, drawing a penalty, but the try for posts was unsuccessful, leaving them up 10-7, as they’d end the half.