Coach Jeff Williams had a simple message for his Canadian under-20 team in the wake of its 46-12 win over the U.S. in the first leg of their World Rugby U20 Trophy qualifier.
"We told the guys that they can celebrate in the changing room and then that's it," Williams said Wednesday. "We move on to Saturday as if we never played these guys."
The two teams meet again Saturday in the same venue, Edmonton's Ellerslie Rugby Park, before the Canada-Romania test match.
Canada ran in seven tries in Tuesday's win, building up a healthy lead in the two-game aggregate series.
The winner advances to the World Rugby U20 Trophy, a second-tier under-20 championship that runs Aug. 29 to Sept. 19 in Montevideo, Uruguay.
The first-tier under-20 title is currently being contested at the World Rugby U20 Championship in Tbilisi, Georgia, where England will face New Zealand in the final of the 12-country event Sunday.
While Williams had little time with the team prior to the qualifiers, he has been able to count on a veteran leadership group.
Captain George Barton, Matt Beukeboom and Connor Sampson played in last year's qualifier with the U.S. Beukeboom, with three test caps, and Cole Keith, with two caps, have experience with the senior Canadian side.
Last year, Canada lost a one-game qualifier 19-18 to the Americans on an 80th-minute penalty in Texas. Canada had only found out a month before that the qualifier would be just one game.
"I've watched that game probably 30 times," Williams said of the 2016 qualifying loss. "It was a little bit of redemption (Tuesday) night but that's in the past."
In 2015, Canada qualified via a two-game series for the U20 Trophy, losing 49-24 to Georgia in the tournament final.
The North American winner will join host Uruguay, Chile, Fiji, Hong Kong, Japan (relegated from the World Rugby U20 Championship), Namibia and Portugal at the U20 Trophy tournament. The winner is promoted to the first-tier U20 championship.
Williams would like to see the North American qualification route changed, believing both the U.S. and Canada should play at the U20 Trophy.
"It's not fair for either team," he said of the current qualifying system.
Williams would like to see the first-tier championship reduced in size to eight teams and the second-tier event increased to 12.
"Right now we just want to qualify for the Trophy, win the Trophy and then get to the (first-tier) Championship," said Williams.
Tight finances meant Williams only had a one-week camp with the players before the qualifier. But the coaching staff had been tracking the players for some time.
Beukeboom, Anton Ngongo, Josh Thiel, Aidan McMullan, Fraser Hurst, Jamie McNaughton and Cole Davis scored tries for Canada on Tuesday. Will Kelly kicked 11 points.
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Neil Davidson, The Canadian Press