Revenge is a dish best served cold. And it was certainly cool treatment that Sherbrooke received in their 58-0 misery to Concordia Sunday. The Stingers exacted redemption against the only team that beat them this season, 17-16 two weeks earlier.
“We’re so mobile, we were all over the place,” explained Jonathan Chiniborch, who scored three tries in the second half. “They’re big, but they ran out of steam quickly.”
And it’s easy to understand why. The game felt more like it was played in December, with wind gusts that stopped kicked-balls mid-flight and dropped them straight down, and constant rain, hail and eventually snow pelting the players.
“[The cold] made it hard to play the ball, with our hands being numb. The game-play was a bit sloppy,” said centre Alfred Davis.
“Those were ugly conditions. Cold and wet and miserable,” added coach Gerry Clayton.
Sherbrooke started off strong, out-muscling the Stingers and keeping the play back in Concordia’s half for the opening 10 minutes. But steadily Concordia found themselves and pushed into the Sherbrooke end, keeping the play there for most of the rest of the half. Jason Rhee opened up the scoring when he dived through a mess of men to get Concordia’s first try. A few minutes later, Mathieu Garston would make it 12-0 when he took Sherbrooke defense off-guard and won the sprint for a bouncing ball in the end-zone that missed the uprights. On the very next play Concordia regained possession, passed the ball down the line, and speedy George Vouloumanos ran to the outside for the third try to make the score at the half 17-0.
In the second half it looks like Sherbrooke gave up. Sherbrooke was missing a few key players who were on the field in the two teams’ previous meeting. A noticeable weakness was their in-experienced fullback, who would practically runaway from the ball every time Concordia kicked deep towards him, giving Concordia’s forwards time to reach the ball and control the play.
Although Sherbrooke did have some pretty large men, Concordia would swarm them with two or more players. Concordia’s defense was solid during the game, putting up a flat-line wall of men that gave Sherbrooke nowhere to run. “The team’s defense was the best we ever had,” said Chinibourch.
Garston kicked for two early conversion points in the half, then Chinibourch scored a quick hat-trick of tries within 10 minutes of each other, thanks mostly to the fact that a lot of the half was played within 20 yards of Sherbrooke’s end-zone. Dave Goldman and scrumhalf Jason Low would put the icing on the very-lopsided cake with two tries in the dying minutes of the game. Low ran well during the game, finding gaps and spearheading Concordia through Sherbrooke’s lines. Garston finished with 19 points and his reliever Jamal Benouahi also got four points.
Although another win is nothing new to the squad, Clayton had the players on the line during the game. “The coaching staff gave then a challenge, come out and play good rugby, or leave,” said Clayton. “We really needed to work on executing the game plan, and knowing everyone’s role down, and they did.”
“[The coaches] really fired up the team,” said Davis. “We had been taking things for granted. We came out to prove something and we did.”
The rugby team plays again Wednesday the 10th at McGill on the reservoir above their downtown campus. That will be Concordia’s fifth game in two and a half weeks, leading into a much-need two-week break till their last regular season game.
“We’re so mobile, we were all over the place,” explained Jonathan Chiniborch, who scored three tries in the second half. “They’re big, but they ran out of steam quickly.”
And it’s easy to understand why. The game felt more like it was played in December, with wind gusts that stopped kicked-balls mid-flight and dropped them straight down, and constant rain, hail and eventually snow pelting the players.
“[The cold] made it hard to play the ball, with our hands being numb. The game-play was a bit sloppy,” said centre Alfred Davis.
“Those were ugly conditions. Cold and wet and miserable,” added coach Gerry Clayton.
Sherbrooke started off strong, out-muscling the Stingers and keeping the play back in Concordia’s half for the opening 10 minutes. But steadily Concordia found themselves and pushed into the Sherbrooke end, keeping the play there for most of the rest of the half. Jason Rhee opened up the scoring when he dived through a mess of men to get Concordia’s first try. A few minutes later, Mathieu Garston would make it 12-0 when he took Sherbrooke defense off-guard and won the sprint for a bouncing ball in the end-zone that missed the uprights. On the very next play Concordia regained possession, passed the ball down the line, and speedy George Vouloumanos ran to the outside for the third try to make the score at the half 17-0.
In the second half it looks like Sherbrooke gave up. Sherbrooke was missing a few key players who were on the field in the two teams’ previous meeting. A noticeable weakness was their in-experienced fullback, who would practically runaway from the ball every time Concordia kicked deep towards him, giving Concordia’s forwards time to reach the ball and control the play.
Although Sherbrooke did have some pretty large men, Concordia would swarm them with two or more players. Concordia’s defense was solid during the game, putting up a flat-line wall of men that gave Sherbrooke nowhere to run. “The team’s defense was the best we ever had,” said Chinibourch.
Garston kicked for two early conversion points in the half, then Chinibourch scored a quick hat-trick of tries within 10 minutes of each other, thanks mostly to the fact that a lot of the half was played within 20 yards of Sherbrooke’s end-zone. Dave Goldman and scrumhalf Jason Low would put the icing on the very-lopsided cake with two tries in the dying minutes of the game. Low ran well during the game, finding gaps and spearheading Concordia through Sherbrooke’s lines. Garston finished with 19 points and his reliever Jamal Benouahi also got four points.
Although another win is nothing new to the squad, Clayton had the players on the line during the game. “The coaching staff gave then a challenge, come out and play good rugby, or leave,” said Clayton. “We really needed to work on executing the game plan, and knowing everyone’s role down, and they did.”
“[The coaches] really fired up the team,” said Davis. “We had been taking things for granted. We came out to prove something and we did.”
The rugby team plays again Wednesday the 10th at McGill on the reservoir above their downtown campus. That will be Concordia’s fifth game in two and a half weeks, leading into a much-need two-week break till their last regular season game.
