Canada West retained the IRB North America 4 title with a comfortable 43-11 defeat of the USA Falcons, outscoring their main rivals by six tries to one at the Rotary Stadium in Abbotsford, British Columbia, in what was a repeat of the inaugural final 12 months earlier. On that occasion only 11 points had separated the two teams, and few would have predicted such a huge victory given they had met only four days earlier in Burnaby Lake when Canada West came from behind to sneak a 13-11 win in round five.

There had been little sign of a runaway victory at half time, when West led only 17-6 having played into the wind for the opening 40 minutes, but 24 unanswered points – including tries for forwards David Biddle, Nanyak Dala and Scott Franklin – put the game beyond reach before Takudzwa Ngwenya scored a consolation try for the Falcons in what was their third straight defeat in the competition. It was, perhaps, fitting that West retained their crown, having topped the standings with four wins and one defeat – by the Falcons in round three – to reach the final.

The silverware remaining in Canada will have delighted national coach Ric Suggitt, but the emergence of a number of home-based players also gave him a headache when it came to selecting his squad for Rugby World Cup 2007, albeit a welcome one as the North America 4 lived up to its intentions of creating an opportunity for players in Canada and the USA to showcase their talents at a higher level and greater intensity than club rugby, making them better equipped to make the transition to Test rugby in the future.

A prime example of a player seizing the opportunity presented by the North America 4 was teenager Nathan Hirayama, who had captained Canada to the Division B final at the IRB Under 19 World Championship in Northern Ireland in April. Fast forward three months and the fly half had played for the senior national team in the Barclays Churchill Cup, toured New Zealand and impressed for Canada West in the latter stages of the NA4 – kicking 13 points in the final – to earn a place in Suggitt's extended 32-man training squad for Rugby World Cup 2007. Hirayama, though, was one of the two unfortunate players to miss the cut.

“The NA4 brought out good performances by certain individuals. You had the youngsters like Nathan Hirayama, who is just a 19-year-old and went to the Under 19 World Cup,” admitted Geraint John, Rugby Canada’s High Performance Director. “Then he showed great maturity in the NA4 final as an outside half as well, so that was pleasing to see and he is a player that we believe has got a great, great future ahead of him. I think people didn’t think he would get to the World Cup, but you never know.”

There would be no double for Canadian rugby to savour though, with Canada East having lost a dramatic third place playoff 34-29 to the USA Hawks in the first game of the concluding double header. The lead changed hand six times during the match, the last time in the dying seconds when the Hawks completed their recovery from 29-15 down with a second try by replacement Jone Naqica following an interception by Nese Malifa, another find of the competition for USA Eagles head coach Peter Thorburn.

The victory by the Hawks not only avenged their loss at the same stage last year, but also proved the only win for an American team in the second part of the competition, which was played on Canadian soil after a seven-week break for the Barclays Churchill Cup and Canada's tour of New Zealand. The 'home' victory proved to be a trait throughout the 2007 event with West the only Canadian team to win a match on the American leg of the tournament with their 32-20 defeat of the Hawks in round two.

Contrasting fortunes

The second North America 4 tournament – one element of the International Rugby Board's US$50 million global strategic investment programme that was launched in August 2005 to increase the competitiveness of the global game – had followed a similar form guide to the inaugural competition with USA Falcons and Canada West quickly emerging as the title contenders with victories in the all-American and all-Canadian affairs of the opening round in early April, even if West only scraped a 26-24 win over East in Vancouver in comparison to the Falcons' 48-17 victory over the Hawks in San Diego.

All four representative teams then converged on Stanford, California, a month later for back-to-back double headers over a four-day period with the Falcons-West encounter in round three the undoubted highlight. Both sides went into the match with a 2-0 record, the Falcons having beaten Canada East 20-5 with national captain Mike Hercus pulling the strings before two Carl Pocock tries helped the defending champions triumph over the Hawks, Malifa having scored all the latter's points with two converted tries and two penalties in an impressive NA4 debut.

Only a point separated the teams at half time - the Falcons lead 12-11 - but tries from scrum half Chad Erskine and full back Andrew Osborne in the 10 minutes after the break stretched that advantage and, while West fought back with a try for prop Hubert Buydens, it was the Americans who held on for victory with a last minute score by Osborne sealing the 29-16 win. The victory also secured the first 'double' with USA Hawks coming out on top in the battle of the winless teams with a 36-23 win in a match which saw three yellow cards and six tries, three by each side with fly half Jason Kelly kicking 21 points for the victors.

The Falcons therefore topped the standings with an unbeaten record from West, Hawks and the winless East as attention turned to the national sides at the Barclays Churchill Cup in England, a tournament which yielded another convincing win for Canada [52-10] over their North America rivals to see the sides swap places in the IRB World Rankings and provided a confidence boost for West and East when the North America 4 resumed on home soil in British Columbia.

Fortunes could not have been more different in the opening match, the Falcons unbeaten and East yet to record a victory, but the Canadians had set themselves a target of winning three in a row to finish the competition on a high. Few would have predicted a shock though, even with the Falcons having lost 10 of their original squad by the resumption, but that is exactly what unfolded at the Brockton Oval with number 8 Aaron Carpenter capping a dominant display with East's fifth try in a 33-22 victory that took them off the bottom of the standings.

The Falcons still topped these, albeit only on point differential after West defied a brief hailstorm and persistent heavy rain to beat USA Hawks 35-7 with Hirayama belying his tender age with a controlled display in difficult conditions. So to the penultimate round to determine who would top the table, the teams already knowing who would contest the final and third place playoff and therefore seeking a psychological blow over the side they would face again in those showdowns.

Those blows were struck by the Canadians with West coming from behind to beat the Falcons thanks to Bryn Keys' conversion of James Potter's try with half an hour remaining in the match at Burnaby Lake. However while this match proved a tense affair, the East continued their revival with a 29-13 defeat of the Hawks, although they did make hard work of it having been given a dream start with three converted tries in the opening 15 minutes. The reality was, as Hawks captain Mike French admitted, their "silly mistakes made it too much to come back from". Fortunately for French, the Hawks were able to turn the tables on their conquerors four days later to finish third overall.

RESULTS

ROUND ONE
7 April - Little Qualcomm Rugby Complex, San Diego
USA Falcons 48 - 17 USA Hawks

7 April - Thunderbird Stadium, Vancouver, British Columbia
Canada West 26 - 24 Canada East

ROUND TWO
9 May - Steuber Rugby Stadium, Stanford, California
USA Falcons 20 - 5 Canada East
Canada West 32 - 20 USA Hawks

ROUND THREE
12 May - Steuber Rugby Stadium, Stanford, California
USA Hawks 36 - 23 Canada East
USA Falcons 29 - 16 Canada West

ROUND FOUR
29 June - Brockton Oval, Vancouver, British Columbia
Canada East 33 - 22 USA Falcons
Canada West 35 - 7 USA Hawks

ROUND FIVE
3 July - Burnaby Sports Complex, Burnaby Lake, British Columbia
Canada East 29 - 13 USA Hawks
Canada West 13 - 11 USA Falcons