Rouge et Or no match for the Gees powerful attack
Photo: Marta Kierkus
After earning their first win in a massive blowout victory over Sherbrooke in their home opener, the Gee-Gees women’s rugby team had their first test against serious competition on Sept. 12.
The Laval Rouge et Or are the only team in the Réseau du sport étudiant du Québec (RESQ) to give the Gee-Gees a real challenge last year. In an incredibly close match, the Gees came away victorious by a score of 15-14. This season the Gee-Gees left Quebec City with a much stronger 33-17 win.
However the game wasn’t always in their favour as the Gee-Gees traded penalty kicks with the Rouge et Or for the majority of the first half. The Gees worked to fight off Laval’s attack while the game was tied 3-3 until a late try forced the team to wake up, heading into the half down 10-6.
Gee-Gees head coach Jen Boyd told Sports Services that “the talk at halftime was about discipline,” and that the team “had a chance to refocus and that was really the turning point in the game.”
It appeared that a fire was lit under the Gee-Gees as they stormed back from half with three consecutive tries, two of which came from star centre, Dria Bennett.
The match then fell into the grips of the Gee-Gees’ defensive prowess, which allowed the team to survive the best Laval could muster and hold onto a convincing win.
The 2-0 Gees look primed to repeat their perfect record from the previous season, with potential for another conference victory on the horizon. Their next test will be the least taxing road game, as it comes against the U of O’s archrival Carleton Ravens at the newly named MNP Park. The Ravens are 0-2, coming off of a massive opening loss to Concordia and a slightly closer loss to Université de Montréal. The game kicks off Wednesday, Sept. 16 at 7 p.m. Following their matchup with Carleton the team will head to Sherbrooke to take on the 0-3 Bishop’s Gaiters on Sept. 20.
