THE GEES EXPERIENCE A CRUSHING DEFEAT 39-5 IN THEIR SEASON OPENER AGAINST DIVISION RIVALS ÉTS
On Saturday evening, the Gee-Gees Men’s Rugby Club battled it out against the number one team in the country, and RSEQ division rivals, the ÉTS Piranhas. This offseason showed that the Gees have done a lot of rebuilding, a loaded roster with plenty of talent to showcase on the field. But so it seems from the result of this home opener that the rivals ÉTS Piranhas have gotten even better after winning last year’s national championship. The game did not go in the Gee-Gees favour, getting beaten at home 39-5 in a tough loss to start the season.
First Half
The Piranhas started the scoring just six minutes into the match with a kick from scrum-half Paul Arditti, putting them up 3-0. On the attack with 22 minutes remaining, the Piranhas almost had the first try of the game after fly-half Thomas Benazeth got through three different Gees, but the pass out to the open winger was dropped and the ball was back in Gee-Gees possession.
In the 32nd minute, a very fortunate knock-on from the Piranhas winger caused the Gees to take possession five yards from the ÉTS try-line. Declan Crew Gee would capitalize after receiving a quick pass, wasting no time driving in and slamming the ball down into the ÉTS zone, making the score 5-3 for the Gees.
Just five minutes later, the angry Piranhas steamrolled through the Gees’ defence, where Ethan Canevet would take back the lead with a try, putting the score at 8-5. As time came to an end in the half, the Piranhas Xabi Chrit got in for another try to increase their lead to 13-5, with Arditti’s kick hitting the post and out.
Second Half
Things got started a bit late in the second half, with the Piranhas breaking the ice with a try from Néal Combelasse. The winger squeezed in tight on the wing, and with a difficult kick from Arditti, ÉTS was leading by 15.
The Gee-Gees squad was having a tough time shutting down the textbook offence of the Piranhas, as Stanislas Blazkowski would score, giving them a comfortable 27-5 lead. Quickly, things were looking grim for the Gees, their ambition to come back dwindling as their division rivals handed them their biggest loss in years.
Reality set in for the Gees as the massive lead by ÉTS was too big to squeeze down, a try from Piranhas Erwan Magendie, another from Samuel Da Silva off a conversion from Arditti, rubbed salt in the wound by finishing off the game by a crushing defeat of 39-5.
Coach James Flemming knew this matchup was going to be tough, but he is optimistic, looking forward to the rest of the season. He says, “I thought we had a pretty solid first half— it was a close eight-point game at half, and then things got away from us. I think all the game we had problems executing. We were a little unorganized, and we didn’t really navigate the chaos well, but it’s a good game to learn from, and a bunch of the young guys got some first caps tonight, so it was a great experience for them. But of course we’re excited, we’re looking forward to the rest of the year, five opportunities to get better, five opportunities to go win some ball games.”
Coach Flemming had some takeaways from this tough matchup, stating that “ We’ll learn from [this game], but then we move forward— can’t live in the past. We’ll use it as a learning point, but then we have to carry on and look at what’s in front.”
Going forward, the Gee-Gees men’s rugby squad will face the Bishop’s Gaiters on Sept. 14. The game will be the Gaiters’ opener on home turf, so the Gees will gear up and hit the road to take care of business in Sherbrooke.
