MELBOURNE - Heartened by giving the All Blacks a hard time, Canada coach David Clark has called for the International Rugby Board to reinstate an improved Pacific Rim tournament.
Despite the size of the 68-6 loss to New Zealand in their World Cup pool match, it was easy to see which
team were happiest after the game.
The All Blacks exited the field directly after the final whistle but the Canucks lapped Telstra Dome applauding their fans.
Clark repeated his call for more games against top opponents so Canadian rugby could grow.
Their results have slipped since qualifying for the quarter-finals at the 1991 World Cup.
He said a regular tournament would be the answer, lamenting the loss of the Pacific Rim tournament, which never settled on a consistent format from 1996 to 2001 but was an ideal outlet for second-tier nations such as Canada, the United States, Japan and the Pacific Island nations.
"Fiji, Samoa and Tonga are damn good rugby teams. It was very disappointing to us that that particular tournament was scrubbed," Clark said. "We were trying to get Argentina into it and that would have made it a hell of a lot better."
- NZPA
