Cobourg’s Mason and Noah Flesch, both St. Mary Catholic Secondary School alumni, were in the starting lineup for Canada’s men’s rugby team against Fiji in a Pacific Nations Cup semifinal matchup Sunday in Colorado.
Canada was defeated 63-10 by world No. 9 ranked Fiji.
Mason Flesch was named captain ahead of the matchup.
“It’s a very difficult scoreline to take in,” Flesch said post-match on Rugby Canada’s website. “We were really looking to back up our performance against Japan — we had a pretty competitive first half against them — and we were looking to build off that, but Fiji outworked us, especially in the first half.”
Next for Canada is a third-place playoff game against Tonga this Saturday in Salt Lake City.
“We’re expecting [Tonga] to be very physical and very direct … maybe not as much flair as Fiji, but definitely going to be more of a front-up, confrontational battle,” Flesch, who also plays in Major League Rugby for the Chicago Hounds, said.
Rugby Canada stated Sunday marked the first Canadian captaincy for the 25-year-old Flesch, who shifted into his preferred blindside flanker role, leading a side missing regular skipper Lucas Rumball and vice-captain Ben LeSage, both ruled out for the remainder of the tournament.
Mason’s younger brother Noah Flesch started in the midfield.
Canada has qualified for the 2027 Men’s Rugby World Cup in Australia.
Author: Pete Fisher
Has been a photojournalist for over 30-years and have been honoured to win numerous awards for photography and writing over the years. Best selling author for the book Highway of Heroes - True Patriot Love
