Duncan McNaughton’s Gee-Gees are once again national championship contenders
The Gee-Gees women’s rugby team kicked off their season Saturday afternoon by welcoming the University de Montreal Carabins to Matt Anthony Field. The women — defending RSEQ champions — were looking to begin yet another push for a national championship, a push that came up heartbreakingly short last season.
The Gees came out flying, and a great run up the left from rookie wing Fiona Day led to fifth-year Leigha Stiles tapping down just two minutes into the game. The Carabins would get their first and only try minutes later, but the Gee-Gees would answer with three tries in just over 10 minutes, via Ketsia Kamba, Ngozi Mosindi, and Sophie McDonald.
Fifth-year Aurora Bowie would convert on all three, powering the Gee-Gees to a massive 26-5 lead at the half, putting the game safely to bed. “It’s funny, we played [Montreal] early last year as well and we just never really clicked,” said head coach Duncan McNaughton after the game.
“I thought it was going to be similar today, I thought it was going to be a very close game, but goodness, [the Gee-Gees] came out very strong … I’m glad everything clicked, it’s been a hard two weeks at camp and I’m really glad for the girls that it worked out.”
Emma Wade would get help from a maul to tap down just three minutes into the second, and then “Go-Go” Mosindi would blaze down the middle of the field untouched after receiving the ball out of a scrum for her second score of the day a few minutes later.
Mosindi credited her teammates with her success. “We talked about backing ourselves and backing each other, and if it wasn’t for the hard lines our 10’s running — and everybody’s running — I wouldn’t have gotten in.”
Next week, the Gee-Gees travel to Quebec City for their toughest matchup of the season: a date with the defending national champion Laval Rouge et Or. The Gee-Gees dropped their regular season opener to Laval a year ago but managed to hand the side their only loss of the season when they took home RSEQ gold.
“Oh goodness, we love playing Laval, we wish we could play them every week,” joked McNaughton. “We’re the only team in Canada to beat them in the last two years,” noted the coach. “Look, it’s going to be a — it’s a cliché — it’s going to be a great battle. I really love playing them, they’re well coached, they’ve got great rugby players, great team, and that just allows us to compete.”
McNaughton, set to step aside after the season to make way for Canada’s senior women’s sevens coach Jack Hanratty, spoke excitedly about the season to come when asked if it was championship-or-bust for the team.
“We are just really excited about the journey. We’ve got a great group, we care for each other, we work out every day, we have a lot of laughs too, and yeah, just every game as it comes. But championship? Sure, why not?”
Mosindi agreed that the team had championship aspirations. “We’re — at least I know I’m still bummed about last year, losing in the first round to [the University of Victoria], so looking ahead to nationals we definitely are, that’s one of our goals, to be in a national championship final. But regardless, we’re all here for the same ride, same journey, so we’ll go through it together.
