TWO COSTLY BACK-TO-BACK TRIES IN THE FIRST HALD WERE ENOUGH TO BRING DOWN THE MIGHTY GEE-GEES WOMEN’S RUGBY SQUAD
On Saturday evening, the last two remaining undefeated teams of RSEQ rugby battled it out at Matt Anthony Field to fight for the lone undefeated status.
This matchup was a defensive masterclass from both sides, with both teams netting their lowest-scoring game of the season in a final score of 17-5 for Laval. Following the game, the Gees now sit third in the RSEQ standings, and Laval remains at the top — we will have to wait until playoffs to see these two titans battle it out again, a match that all fans should be looking forward to.
It was clear that both teams were on their A-game, making minimal mistakes on offence and defence, and the scoreboard proved it as it remained empty 20 minutes into the game.
After a Laval player from the backline intercepted a pass, it was quickly passed to Emily Fort, and she was meters ahead of the next closest Gee. Unfortunately for Fort, that Gee was none other than RSEQ’s fastest, Mercedes Cole, who caught up to Fort in no time to stop the try.
Laval Rouge et Or would be the first to break the ice with a try from Léa Ouellet, and Amélie Tremblay’s conversion was good to put them up 7-0.
Only 30 seconds later, Laval Rouge et Or would strike again with a quick run into the Gees zone from Corine Bellavance, and the Gees were down 12-0.
The Gees came out of the locker room hot after halftime, completely shutting down the Rouge et Or, scoring their first try of the game from the fifth-year center Ngozi Mosindi, decreasing their deficit to seven points.
Shortly after the Gees’ strong comeback, the Laval fly-half Anne Lamothe crushed the momentum with a try, and the Gees found themselves down 17-5.
No more points were scored for the remaining 15 minutes, and the Gees would be handed their first loss of the season against their toughest opponent in the RSEQ.
Coach Jack Hanratty held his head high after the game and was very impressed with the defensive display from his squad. He said, “It was less errors than last week, and from a performance standpoint, I thought they did a great job. It’s a lot of players’ first time playing against a team like Laval. Whatever about how good they are in the country, they’re very organized, the most organized team that we’ve played against… But they were the well-deserved winners today.”
Followed by a confident statement, “Sometimes when you play against top teams in the country, you play in fear. We didn’t play in fear today — we set the pace, but just didn’t put it on the scoreboard.”
Lastly, Coach Hanratty was very impressed with his scrum-half and fly-half, who are both rookies, but showing great promise as prospects, “Our two first-year Gee-Gees at scrum-half [Ava Johnston] and fly-half [Claire Bennett], which is essentially your quarterback, or central midfielder, depending on what sports you’re looking at. I’m just really proud that they gave us enough to continue their development. So now they have another 80 minutes to learn more and improve every week. I know that they are going to get there, it’s just how quickly can they do it?”
After facing the best team in the RSEQ, the Gee-Gees hit the road and move on to next weekend, where they play the last-place team, the McGill Redbirds, who have yet to win a game.
