DTH Van der Merwe, Kieran Crowley rue Canada's basic errors in Italy defeat

Canada wing DTH van der Merwe has stated that basic errors cost Canada a victory against Italy, while coach Kieran Crowley has said that his side need to learn to close out games.

Van der Merwe scored the first of two Canada tries after 14 minutes, but his team could not hold on to a 10-point advantage as they lost a tight game by a five-point margin.

"It is the basic things that are going to let us down. Unfortunately, today we forced a few of those passes and we couldn't finish off," the South African-born player told reporters after the tie.

Canada coach Crowley added: "We always believe we can compete with teams like Italy; we've just got to learn to get over the line.

"In the end we just weren't good enough and people pat us on the back for a brave performance. But that's not good enough for us; we wanted to win."

Canada sit fourth in Pool D following Saturday's loss, one position and three points behind Italy.