Canada may have been outmatched against Argentina in this summer's Copa America soccer tournament, but things unfolded quite differently at the World Rugby Classic.
Axemen Rugby Club veteran and Toronto Wolfpack alum Blake Mahovic punched in two of the Canadian squad's three tries from his fullback position en route to a 22-17 semifinal upset of the reigning champion Argentina Legends.
Neil Irwin joined his longtime Axemen running mate Mahovic on the pitch in what is one of the most significant wins of both men's careers to date.
"It was pretty incredible to beat the Argentinians and we can’t wait for the final on Friday," Mahovic said in an interview with The Royal Gazette. "When we came out here, we didn’t know what to expect. It’s my first tour and I knew from the first training session that we had a really strong team.
"We just went out there and believed in one another. Canada haven’t really done too well in the tournament, but we put all that on the sidelines, went all out and it paid off."
Mahovic's first score came by way of a nice offload from fly half Mike Maloney, who made good on the conversion. Legends prop Juan Doria evened things up with a try of his own, with Gonzalo Taboda on the convert.
Next it was Huw Grundy finding paydirt and Maloney kicking a penalty goal to bring the Maple Leaf into halftime up 15-7.
After Taboda cashed in a second-half penalty to reduce the lead to five, Mahovic took the ball from a scrum and knifed through Argentina's defence for the seminal try. The Canadians weathered a late Legends push from there to retain victory.
"The key for us was working together. We just believed in each other, we all worked so hard and when you work that hard, wins will come," added Mahovic. "Our combinations were coming together. The boys just put their bodies on the line the whole game, and I couldn't be prouder of everyone. We are ready for whoever we’ll meet in the final."
Argentinian centre Juan Marsano voiced respect for his opponents in defeat.
"It was a tough game and Canada has great backs on the outside. They had a great strategy and they got over us," Marsano told the Gazette. "We’ll come back stronger next year. The game of rugby has taught us that when we go down, we get back up right away."
Canada has never won the World Rugby Classic since its inception in 1988.
