Rugby universitaire masculin: Les Redmen champions
Dave Tontini, a sophomore from Pointe Claire, Que., scored
two tries as McGill rallied to defeat Bishop's 31-13 to capture
their second consecutive Quebec university men's rugby
championship, before 400 at Molson Stadium, Saturday.
It capped an undefeated season for the Redmen, which went
10-0 in league and playoff action to win their third conference
title in four years.
"It was the best team chemistry we've had in my 10 years
here," said head coach Sean McCaffery. "The team unity was great
and we we're all on the same page. They worked hard all year and
wanted to run up the mountain (in practice every day), they really
pushed the coaching staff to work them hard."
Down 8-7 at halftime, Alexander Hart of Westmount, Que.,
scored in the 41st minute to put McGill ahead 14-8, then Tontini, a
5-foot-11, 225-pound prop, tallied twice in a four-minute span to
make it 24-8 and put the game out of reach.
"The game went pretty much the way we planned," said
McCaffery. "We knew Bishop's would come out strong and we wanted to
wear them down and take advantage of our depth and
conditioning."
Other try scorers for the Redmen included Adam Sommer of
LaSalle, Que., and Adrian Thorogood ofMedicine Hat,
Alta.
Alistair Crow of Victoria, B.C., added a
pair of conversions and Jonathan Bell of
Toronto, also had one convert.
Bishop's got two tries from Matthew Perrera of Erin, Ont.,
and one penalty goal from Samuel Campbell, a native of
Toronto.
"It was a phenomenal and very satisfying way to go out,"
said graduating co-captain Caleb Balloch, a mechanical engineering
senior from Beijing. "I can't say enough about
the coaching staff and how well they prepared us this year. McGill
rugby is a wonderful community and I'm gonna miss it a
lot."
REDMEN RAP: Aside from Balloch and Thorogood, other expected
losses to graduation were Frank Hewitt of
Calgary, Marshall Eidinger
of Toronto and Jonathan McIntosh, an
exchange student fromEngland who was on a
prestigious Sauvé scholarship.
QSSF CHAMPIONSHIP GAME
-------------------------------
FINAL (HALFTIME)
Bishop's 13 (8)
McGill 33 (7)
SCORING SUMMARY
----------------
FIRST HALF:
1. McG: Adam Sommer (TRY), 14:00
2. McG: Alistair Crow (CONVERSION), 14:00
3. BU: Samuel Campbell (PENALTY GOAL), 20:00
4. BU: Matthew Perrera (TRY), 35:00
SECOND HALF:
5. McG: Alexander Hart (TRY), 41:00
6. McG: Alistair Crow (CONVERSION), 41:00
7. McG: Dave Tontini (TRY), 48:00
8. McG: Dave Tontini (TRY), 52:00
9. McG: Adrian Thorogood (TRY), 65:00
10. McG: Jonathan Bell (CONVERSION), 65:00
11. BU: Matthew Perrera (TRY), 77:00
