Irish-born backs face off as Canada and U.S. bid for Rugby World Cup berth
Rugby took fly half Shane O’Leary from his native Ireland to France. Thanks to his mother’s New Brunswick roots, it has brought him to Canada.
And strangely enough, he now finds himself pitted against a former Irish teammate wearing American colours as Canada and the U.S. battle this weekend for a Rugby World Cup berth.
Cork-born O’Leary and Dublin-born AJ MacGinty faced off at fly half last Saturday at Hamilton’s Tim Hortons Field when the two North American rivals played to a 28-28 draw in the first leg of their Rugby World Cup qualifier.
“We were laughing about it,” O’Leary said.